BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - The secretary of the Department of Social Services says if new laws were in place sooner, the events surrounding the tragic death of a three-year-old girl who was left in a van might have been prevented.
Those new laws that passed just this week allow DSS to revoke and deny childcare licenses without having to first get a committee's approval. DSS cited "Wanda's Kids World" numerous times for violations before Wednesday afternoon's events unfolded. It's what concerns many, including DSS Secretary Kristy Nichols. Nichols says past sanctions against the day care were not tough enough.
"I think one of the major problems we have with current regulations and policies we can now revisit and execute is that there was a practice of, if you have your licensed revoked but cleared deficiencies, you were eligible to renew application without any time constraint in terms of renewal," Nichols said. "We think that's a bad policy. We think that's one that needs to be revisited."
The day care's license had been revoked two prior times, but after it made changes, the license was restored. Wanda's was also cited four separate times in the past year-and-a-half for not properly checking its van to make sure no children were inside. "In their documentation of how they were transporting children and following regulations, they were in compliance, so it leads us to believe that the visual was not done and they were not following the four simple steps that they know they had to take," said Nichols.
They were supposed to make sure each child entered the van, exited the van, and registered. Then, workers had to visually check to make sure no one was left behind. "This is a tragedy and when you have a tragedy of this kind you ask yourself why and who's responsible," said Nichols.
DSS also cut off the center's "Child Care Assistance Program" funding, money that went toward child care costs for low-income families. Wanda's Kids World received $18 a day per child. Nichols says her department is currently re-working its regulations and policies so that possibly fines or other sanctions will be imposed first, before revoking a facilities license.
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