Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual
Although the procedures related to warning letters are described in the Enforcement Actions section of the manual, a warning letter is not enforcement. A warning letter is a pre-enforcement action - the last step taken prior to beginning progressive enforcement action to bring a provider into compliance with the administrative rules. Warning letters are not authorized by statute and, unlike an enforcement action, a licensee cannot appeal a warning letter through the Division of Hearings and Appeals.
A warning letter is a special tool that was developed to:
Increase the impact of a Noncompliance Statement and Correction Plan (CFS-294), or
Report to the licensee that telephone service to the facility is unavailable and the consequences if the service is not restored, or
Inform the licensee about two failed attempts to gain entrance to the facility for on-site monitoring and the consequences should monitoring not be allowed, or
Address other unique circumstances.
The warning letter informs the licensee that failure to correct the violation, admit entry, or restore telephone service may result in subsequent enforcement action. Warning letter standardized formats are available on the BECR Intranet. One version of the letter addresses a lack of telephone service, one version alerts the licensee to failure to gain entrance, and one version calls attention to one or more violations documented on a Noncompliance Statement and Correction Plan.
A warning letter is most often used to call the provider’s attention to reoccurring, uncorrected and serious violations of the administrative rule. It serves as notice to the licensee that BECR will take the significant step of issuing an enforcement action if the licensee fails to address the concerns described in the warning letter. Warning letters should not be issued repeatedly if it becomes clear that the issuance of the warning letter is not altering the licensee’s behavior in correcting violations. The warning letter should never be used when an enforcement action is the more appropriate action.
If issuing a warning letter does not bring about compliance, the licensing specialist should discuss imposition of an enforcement action with the licensing manager/licensing supervisor. Should enforcement action become necessary and the licensee appeals the enforcement action, the warning letter is useful as evidence of BECR’s attempt to bring the licensee into compliance. However, the warning letter, by itself, has no negative impact on a license and does not, for example, prevent license continuation.
The issuance of a warning letter for noncompliances is one of the triggers that requires the reassignment of a center from the Minimum Monitoring Plan to the Moderate Monitoring Plan. For more information regarding monitoring plan assignment, see the chapter titled Monitoring Activity Standards in the Monitoring section of the manual.
Under Wis. Stat. § 48.657(2g) and Wis. Admin. Code § DCF 251.04(2)(L), 250.04(2)(i), and 252.41(1)(L), child care centers are required to post with the license any notice received from the Department relating to rule violations. The Warning Letter must be posted in an area of the center that is visible to parents and must remain posted until the licensing specialist has verified the violations as corrected and in compliance at or before the next licensing site visit.
Issuance of a warning letter is recorded in WISCCRS in the Enforcements Module. (See Section 8 Record Keeping.)
This page last updated 10/2020.