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Over the summer, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules
suspended a DCFS rule limiting how long day care assistants can
monitor rooms of children under 2 years old. The rule restricted
assistants from monitoring rooms for no more than 90 minutes
upon opening and closing. That was modified from three hours
upon opening and closing the agency allowed during the pandemic.
The
bipartisan JCAR called for more information after being told
there were hundreds of founded complaints filed against child
care centers over this issue.
DCFS Deputy Director of Licensing Shontée Blankenship told JCAR
in July the department has received more than 300 complaints
about the issue since 2019. More than 290 were substantiated,
she said.
“These numbers clearly show that leaving an assistant alone
without a qualified teacher is a safety concern that cannot be
ignored,” Blankenship said.
A public records request filed by The Center Square found of a
total of 305 complaints filed between Jan. 1, 2019, and July 11,
2023, and there were only 52 substantiated complaints.
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