Child care operations in Texas are subject to various rules and regulations, as well as licensure and maintenance of license, under Texas Child Care Licensing, a subdivision of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which is itself a subsidiary of Texas Health and Human Services. Child Care Licensing is charged with investigating any complaints or allegations of violations of the state licensing standards, laws, and rules regarding child care and placement, and with disciplining those who it judges to have committed these violations.
Any complaint against a child care operation alleging violation of minimum standards, violation of licensing law, abuse of a child in an operator’s care, or neglect of a child whose welfare was handed into an operator’s care is followed by an investigation by Child Care Licensing staff. This investigation will initially determine whether the allegations have validity and to make sure that children in the care of the operation are properly protected.
When Child Care Licensing determines that a child care operation has committed a violation, it is empowered to discipline the operation in a number of different ways. These methods of discipline vary depending on the type and severity of violation, and to a certain extent depend on the specifics of a given case.
If the violation is fairly minor, the discipline may in fact come in the form of a voluntary action plan taken on the part of the child care operation, or in the form of administrative penalties.
Other forms of discipline fall under the rubric of corrective actions, which apply when the violations have been determined to not endanger either the safety or health of children in the operation’s care. These include such penalties as probation or official evaluation. Child Care Licensing aides the operation in gaining compliance with the minimum standards, rules, or laws that it has been found to have violated.
And then there are adverse actions, which may be imposed when a child care operation has failed to protect the health and safety of children in its care, or where there is evidence that an operation has continued to be deficient in complying with any laws, standards, or rules. These range from an adverse amendment with conditions to a permit, to emergency suspension of the license to engage in child care, to full revocation of the license to operate a child care operation.
Moreover, anytime a child care operation receives notice that an adverse action will be taken, it is required to notify every child’s guardians in its care of the discipline being imposed upon it—which is certain to result in the loss of clientele.
Therefore, from the earliest possible moment after receiving the notice of a complaint, a childcare operation should contact an experienced professional defense attorney to help. We help childcare professionals and operations to keep their licenses when those licenses are under attack by Child Care Licensing. If you are facing disciplinary action, contact us today or call (512) 476-5757 and schedule a case evaluation. We here at BERTOLINO LLP can help. We are skilled at assisting physicians in doing everything that can be done to ensure the most favorable possible outcome to their cases.
With offices in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio, we serve clients all over the state. Contact us today or call (512) 476-5757 and schedule a case evaluation.
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