Local childcare providers say state regulations are setting them up for failure

IDAHO FALLS — Taylina Rigoulot and Holly Jackson, two local child care providers, say changes in the child care license renewal policy puts them at risk of shutting down.

Rigoulot and Jackson were notified by the city of Idaho Falls Monday they will no longer be issuing temporary child care workers certificates. For them, this change could potentially be putting their livelihoods at stake.

Temporary licensing allowed child care providers and employees the ability to work legally while background checks processed during the licensing renewal phase.

“A temporary license means that you are supervised, you can’t be by yourself,” Jackson says.

In order to be compliant with state regulations, the city of Idaho Falls was counseled by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Criminal History Unit to no longer administer temporary Child Care Workers Certificates.

“We have received word from the State and or Federal that temporary licenses are no longer allowed because our child care licensing has to be at least as strict as the state,” Idaho Falls City Clerk Kathy Hampton says. “We’re in the process of updating our city code to reflect that change.”

Temporary licenses issued before the change will remain valid, Hampton says.

“To be State licensed you do a background check every five years. Within the city we do them every two, so we pay a lot more money to be licensed within the city and we have to do all this crap a lot more often,” Rigoulot says.

Hampton says the background check process can take as quickly as a few days, or two to three weeks at the most. But Jackson says in her experience, it’s taken six weeks to three months.

“That is a very very unusual circumstance if that is the case,” Hampton says in response.

With a broken fingerprinting machine at the Idaho Falls Police Department, and long lines at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, many providers are finding it nearly impossible to meet the municipal standard by getting their background checks completed in time for their license renewal dates.

“We go in a few weeks early and apply for it and then they issue a workers card right around the same date the other one expired so (the length of the license is not shortened),” Rigoulot says. “We pay a lot of money to have these done.”

Because of the new changes, Jackson says those looking for a job in childcare will have to wait a substantial amount of time before being able to start. For those renewing, the city says they try to give providers ample notice.

“We try to send out renewal notices approximately six weeks in advance, so that should give those providers plenty of time,” Hampton says.

Jackson recently interviewed three people for a job with her daycare. She explained to them the new policy and the long process for background clearance before they can begin.

“They all turned down the job,” Jackson says. “No one’s going to wait around… so are these people going six weeks without a paycheck? No, they’re not.”

Jackson says they run the risk of turning longtime clients away.

“No one has any information for us. In the meantime we have our licenses expiring, we have new people that need to be hired. School started this week and we don’t have enough staff,” Jackson says. “We will have to turn clients away and say first come first serve. The state is setting us up for failure.”

Between the day they were notified of the change on July 13 through August 21 when temporary licenses were discontinued, the city says they’ve been communicating with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and the Attorney General’s Office. Bud Cranor, the city spokesman, says they’ve presented concerns with the renewal process and making sure they would have licensed workers at all times. But the rules still had to be put in place, he says.

“We feel it, we understand their pain. We have to comply or we get in trouble,” Cranor says.

Rigoulot says it’s because of rules like these that many daycares go underground, and are run illegally. Now those who wish to remain legal, and up to code don’t know if they can keep their doors open.

“The only thing I see the city (doing) is expedited background checks for daycare providers because it doesn’t sound like they’re going to go against the state,” Jackson says.

As the city continues to find ways to improve the process, Hampton has one suggestion for daycares that are short staffed.

“I’ve talked to a couple of facility owners. If they already have licensed workers, they could share those workers with these other facilities. That’s really our only option right now.”

When asked what Jackson’s next move is, she said she didn’t know.

“I (may) have to turn people away, but I won’t know until Monday when I see my numbers. So every day it’s going to be a guess,” Jackson says.