Online inspection results for child care criticized

Database incomplete, misleading, providers say of statewide effort

"I really think it's a good idea to put this stuff online, but it's incomplete, and it's not fair to the hardworking people in this profession," Corbett said. She said an inspector cited her center twice in October 2007, for child records management and disease prevention. The records issue involved emergency information for five children, and the citation for disease prevention involved a tear in a diaper pad, she said.

Both were fixed within 24 hours, she said, adding that the response and the context of the problems are missing from the online site.

Corbett and other providers pointed to Virginia's online database of day-care providers as a model that Maryland should follow. The Virginia Web site lists reports, details and narratives about violations and the steps the providers took to fix them.

Koshkin said the state eventually wants to offer far more information online to consumers but will need new technology to make it possible. Day-care inspectors now fill out reports on paper, he said, and only some of that information can be easily transferred to a database. He said his agency launched a pilot project last week that will eventually equip inspectors with hand-held computers so they can instantly input information digitally during inspections.

"One major goal is to have an online report that is sufficiently detailed and a lot more flexible than what we have now," Koshkin said.

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Find child care inspection results at http://msdecompliancereports.org