Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual
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 to the provider. 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 and/or legal action.
If the complainant wishes to remain unidentified, the name, address and phone number should not be written down because if it is, confidentiality cannot be assured. While Chapter 48, Wis. Stats., does not specifically provide for the confidentiality of complainants, Wis. Stat. § 19.35(1)(am) does offer some protection to those complainants requesting anonymity during a general open records request. However, staff cannot assure the confidentiality of a complainant if identifying information is in the file and the complaint results in litigation. For example, if the matter goes to a hearing, the identity of the complainant may be revealed during the discovery phase of the case, or the complainant may be a witness at the hearing. If the complainant wants a copy of the investigation report, the complainant’s name and address must be provided and may therefore be subject to disclosure.
Since BECR would have no way to contact an anonymous source, 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.
This page last updated 10/2018.