Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual
The initial screening of the complaint is a critical function that must be performed by the licensing specialist as soon as the complaint is received. The licensing specialist does the following when screening a complaint:
Assesses the level of risk the alleged violations poses to children in care (see section 3.1.) and determines the time frame required for initial response. (See section 4.);
Determines whether the complaints described in the CFS-321 involves an allegation of a violation over which BECR has regulatory authority. (See section 3.3.);
Identifies which administrative rules have been potentially violated and therefore will form the focus of the investigation. (See section 3.5.)
Determines whether another agency shares regulatory authority over issues in the complaint and also needs to be involved in the investigation. (See section 3.4.)
Determines whether a complaint is high profile in nature and should be reported to the licensing manager/licensing supervisor. The licensing manager/licensing supervisor will decide if the bureau director and legal counsel should be immediately alerted. (See section 3.2.)
3.1. Assessing the Level of Risk the Complaint Poses to Children in Care
3.1.1. Complaints that Require Immediate Attention
3.1.2. Complaints that Do Not Require Immediate Attention
3.2. Alerting the Bureau Director to High Profile Complaints
3.3. Determining Regulatory Authority to Investigate
3.3.1. When Jurisdiction to Investigate the Complaint Does Not Exist
3.4. Shared Regulatory Authority: Coordinating with Another Agency
3.5. Identifying Specific Administrative Rules Potentially Violated
This page last updated 10/2020.