Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual
Upon receipt of a self-report from a license exempt program by telephone or in writing, the licensing specialist screens the report to determine if some or all of the allegations made about the program concern rules identified in the Annual Health and Safety Rule Tag and therefore fall within the jurisdiction of BECR. S/he may determine that a follow-up investigation of the self-report is needed to determine whether the incident is related to a health and safety violation and/or a situation still exists that has the potential to cause harm to a child. The follow-up investigation may involve a site visit, a review of additional documentation submitted by the program, a review of police reports or county investigations, interviews with staff members or parents, etc.
When the self-report is made by telephone, the licensing specialist instructs the license exempt program to submit a written self-report of the incident to the appropriate BECR regional office within 5 business days of the incident, either via email, letter or fax.
If violations are cited, the DCF-294A must be delivered as soon as possible, but no later than 10 business days from the date the self-report is made or a visit is conducted (unless other agencies are involved in an investigation that will delay final results and/or further information must be obtained by BECR). A DCF-294A is completed with a description of the violation and the notation, “Self-Reported on (date)” in the Rule/Statute Number - Noncompliance Statement column.
If the licensing specialist determines that the self-reported event is not a violation of any of the health and safety rules, the licensing specialist should explain to the program that BECR does not cite rules that are not included in the Annual Health and Safety Rule Tag. This information is conveyed either by email, telephone, or in person. The licensing specialist does not issue DCF-785C or DCF-294A in this case.
All health and safety rule violations directly related to follow-up on a self-report should be cited on the same DCF-294A. The form is issued at the end of the investigation (dated the final investigative visit date) and identifies all observed violations, even when the investigation involved multiple visits. When violations are observed on different dates, the date of each violation should be identified in the description of each violation, in the column labeled Rule/Statute Number - Noncompliance Statement.
If an investigation of a self-report involves multiple visits by the licensing specialist and s/he observes a violation that requires immediate correction, such as a dangerous playground hazard, the DCF-294A citing that particular violation should be issued immediately following the visit in which it was observed.
This page last updated 06/2018.