Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Certification Policy Manual
Sometimes the incident, accident or death report involves an event that is within the jurisdiction or regulatory authority of another agency. When a death occurs to a child in regulated child care, other agencies, such as law enforcement, are called upon to investigate the death. In situations where other agencies are involved in the investigation, the certification worker will likely have to wait for the other agency’s findings before developing his/her own investigation plan. This is also true in cases of alleged child abuse or neglect and when law enforcement is involved. In such cases the certification worker determines whether or not it is necessary to suspend the certification pending the outcome of the investigation (See Sanctions Module 9 for additional guidance).
If a third party, such as law enforcement or child protective services, reports the death or injury of a child to the certification agency, in addition to the self-report from the operator, the additional report by the third party may be recorded and investigated as a complaint or it may be considered as supplemental information to the self-report.
For example, if an operator self-reports a child’s injury and a subsequent report by CPS is also received, the certification worker will need to make a determination whether or not the CPS report will be recorded as a separate complaint or supplemental information to the self-report. If the information provided by CPS seems to contradict the circumstances reported by the provider, it may be determined that the CPS report will be recorded as a complaint. If CPS screens out the report it may be considered supplemental information to the self-report. It may be that not enough information is known during the initial CPS screening to determine whether or not the CPS report should be recorded as a separate complaint or supplemental to the self-report. Once a decision is made the WISCCRS complaint/incident report can be modified. If the CPS agency notifies the certification worker about an injury to a child prior to the provider’s self-report, however, the CPS report to the agency shall be recorded as a complaint.
This page last updated 07/2015.