Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual
The licensing specialist has authority to investigate complaints that involve an alleged violation of licensing administrative rules. The licensing specialist must perform a preliminary screening of all complaints to determine, first of all, whether the allegations described on the CFS-321 meet the definition of a complaint (see section 1) and therefore falls within BECR’s regulatory authority to investigate. Some complaints, for example, are related to the contractual arrangement between the child care center and the parent (i.e., payment disputes) and generally are not licensing-related issues. Complaints about the personality traits of providers, or interpersonal relationships between parents and provider, also are generally not complaints that fall within BECR’s jurisdiction. There may be a combination of allegations, some of which are within BECR’s authority to investigate and some of which are not. In that case, the licensing specialist proceeds with an investigation of those allegations over which jurisdiction does exist.
When jurisdiction is not clear from the complaint intake, the licensing specialist may need to follow-up with the complainant. If the complaint was made anonymously, the licensing specialist should investigate enough to clarify whether or not the complaint is within the realm of BECR regulatory authority.
3.3. Determining Regulatory Authority to Investigate
3.3.1. When Jurisdiction to Investigate the Complaint Does Not Exist
This page last updated 01/2017.