Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education

Bureau of Early Care Regulation

Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual

2.1.1 Receipt of Anonymous Complaints by Telephone or in Person

The BECR staff person taking a complaint should not encourage or volunteer that the complainant may remain anonymous. Rather, the staff person should attempt to collect the caller’s name, address, phone number and relationship. It should be stressed with the complainant that it is beneficial to the BECR investigation to have this identifying information so that BECR has a way to contact them with further questions or to request other clarifying information to corroborate their allegations. This is especially true if there may be the potential for enforcement actions.

If the complainant wishes to remain unidentified, the name, address and phone number should not be written down. Wis. Stat. § 48 does not specifically provide for the confidentiality of complainants, but case law offers some protection to those complainants requesting anonymity. However, staff cannot assure confidentiality of complainants if identifying information is in the file, due to Public Records Law. The complainant should be advised that BECR will attempt to keep the name confidential but cannot guarantee it. For example, if the matter should require a hearing, his or her identity may be revealed. If the complainant wants a copy of the investigation report, the complainant’s name and address must be provided and may be subject to disclosure under Public Records Law.

Anonymous complainants can be encouraged to call back in order to ensure that the investigator has the information needed and to find out the results of the investigation, since BECR would have no way to contact an anonymous source.

This page last updated 01/2017.