MARC VASCONCELLOS/THE ENTERPRISE

Jenna Merlino, 4, teacher Lorri Wood and “star of the week” Morgan Chase, 4, all of Raynham, enjoy an art activity at the Learning Loft in Raynham.

By JULIE JETTE
The Patriot Ledger

During World War II, as their parents built ships at the Fore River shipyard, children gathered for the first class at the newly opened Jack ’n’ Jill Child Care Center.

In the 65 years since, Jack ’n’ Jill has opened three more centers and accumulated ample expertise. Yet it has also come to rely on state inspectors for guidance to run a safe, effective program.

“They don’t come in and try to find problems,” said Kelley Joyce, who has been at Jack ’n’ Jill for 17 years, now as executive vice president. “They bring you solutions.”

Nancy Burrill has had a similar experience. When she came to the Westfield Child Center in Brockton two decades ago, it served about 25 children. Now it has nearly 200.

Like most day care center directors, she has come to rely on the state for guidance to run a safe, effective program.

AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger

Amanda Holt, a teacher at Pilgrim Child Care in Duxbury, holds 3-month-old Niamh Hickey while talking on the telephone to the child’s mother, who had called to find out how many times her daughter had been.

“When I call with a question, I get the answers right away,” she said. “My inspector is wonderful. I’d like to have her here with me every day.”

But compared to many states, Massachusetts brings relatively few solutions to day care centers, - thanks to the paucity of licensors - the official term for inspectors - who are the state’s first line of defense against child abuse, neglect and mistreatment.

Massachusetts parents entrust about 175,000 children to 10,960 licensed child care providers each work day, assuming that state regulation and oversight will help keep their kids safe and enriched while parents earn a living.

But with only 78 state employees directly overseeing child care - a ratio of one licensor to 252 programs - some child care experts say the state doesn’t have enough workers to inspect programs as often as it should.

The ratio of inspectors to programs falls drastically short of the 1-to-50 recommended by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.

AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger

Day care providers must comply with a myriad of regulations in the Bay State. Many, like Pilgrim Child Care in Duxbury, above, rely on the advice of state inspectors, but licensors have huge workloads.

The association recommends four visits by inspectors per program per year, but Massachusetts licensors often go two or three years between visits, unless there is a self-reported incident or outside complaint.

“Our position, first and foremost, is standards without enforcement are hollow,” said Linda Smith, the association’s executive director.

Few question the state’s high standards for its day cares. But investing resources, especially staffing, to protect children is another thing.

Mimi Gordon, a licensor who is president of the chapter of the Service Employees Union International Local 509 representing employees at the state Department of Early Education and Care, said the state’s stronger standards demand better oversight because it takes longer to educate programs about them and more attention from inspectors to enforce them.

“The better the standards, the more people you need to enforce that,” Gordon said. “All licensors carry workloads way exceeding what the (national) standard is.”

MARC VASCONCELLOS/THE ENTERPRISE

Five-year-old Hunter Darre of Raynham and 5-year-old Katie Benson of Middleboro draw the “star of the week” at the Learning Loft Pre-School in Raynham. Every week, a student is picked and the star’s classmates draw him or her.

Inspectors fewer, busier

The state’s goal is to visit every program once a year. But officials acknowledged that at current staffing levels, they have to give high priority to programs that have received complaints. And it’s a situation that has only gotten worse.

Early Education and Care officials said that, because of budget cuts in 2003, they have 10 percent fewer inspectors than before.

“(Budget cuts) were a significant blow to really monitor as closely as we would like,” said Matt Veno, a spokesman for the agency. He said the agency plans to hire three additional inspectors this year.

Dena Papanikolaou, general counsel for the department, said the agency tries to inspect new programs and centers with complaints more frequently.

Last year, state inspectors investigated 2,336 complaints or “incidents” - problems that are reported by the child care programs themselves - and required corrective action in 1,005 cases. After reviews by licensors, eight programs’ licenses were suspended and nine were permanently revoked.

“The complaints do run the gamut,” Papanikolaou said. “Obviously, something extremely serious, such as shaken baby - that’s where the agency’s approach would be drastic or severe.”

Papanikolaou said with most complaints, the agency first offers training, reviews standards or requires specific changes.

Providers must report injuries or accidents - if, for example, a child falls and needs stitches.

“If we don’t get these self-reports in, we might visit them more often,” Papanikolaou said.

Smith said parents are often surprised to learn how infrequently programs are inspected.

“We’ve done many focus groups around the country, and parents without exception say, ‘Well of course it’s inspected.’ They just assume everything else in this country is inspected, so why not child care?” she said.

Glen Peterson, co-owner of the Avon Children’s Center in Avon, said he thinks well-run centers don’t need too much oversight, however.

“Programs that have good records usually don’t require that much attention,” he said. “The attention the programs get are proportional to the quality they have.”

Michelle Manganaro, director of Pilgrim Child Care in Duxbury, says more licensors are needed to offer advice, ensure safety and, particularly, look after new programs and those with less knowledgeable teachers.

Manganaro says she would like to see more political attention paid to the lack of licensors.

“If I were a politician or working on Beacon Hill on child care issues, I would absolutely want more licensors,” she said.

Kyle Alspach of GateHouse News Service contributed to this report.

AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger

Jeffrey Calligan, 2, is supervised by a teacher as he washes his hands at the Jack ’n’ Jill Child Care Center in Quincy.