The York (PA) YMCA may lose its child care license over allegations of child abuse.
The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare investigated and verified the allegations and made a preliminary decision to revoke the York branch's child care license for "failure to comply with the department's regulations and gross incompetence and negligence in the operation of a child care program." The department informed YMCA of York County President Larry Richardson of the decision last month in a letter obtained by Club Industry.
The state's investigation began in April after the department received a complaint that staff members in the 3-year-old and 4-year-old room did not count children before leaving for an excursion, which resulted in a child being left unsupervised for 10 minutes. A department representative verified the complaint, and the Y was issued a provisional certificate of compliance after submitting a plan to correct the violations cited, according to the letter.
But since then, the department has received several more complaints of children being mistreated at the facility.
On June 24, a department representative verified that a staff member "yanked a child by the arm as a form of discipline," according to the letter. On July 31, a department representative observed the same staff member physically disciplining a child, making the child stand for nine minutes during nap time as a form of punishment and "screaming at the child to 'shut up.'"
On Aug. 7, a representative for the department verified that another facility worker used physical discipline on a child, which resulted in the child needing medical treatment and the employee being named as the perpetrator in a report of child abuse.
Department spokesperson Carey Miller told Club Industry that the Y has appealed the state's decision to revoke the facility's license and can continue to operate the child care program until a final decision is made. The department will be closely monitoring the Y during the appeals proccess, Miller added.
In a statement, Richardson said that the Y had responded to the alleged violations and cooperated fully with the investigation.
"The YMCA's site at its York Branch is a nationally accredited child care center, achieving the highest level of quality accreditation in the field of child care services," Richardson said. "The York YMCA self-reported the alleged incidents, self-addressed the alleged incidents, self-corrected the alleged incidents and will emerge with an even stronger child care center."