Terry Cooper started the morning's first day-care inspection with a mental run through a safety checklist.
Director Ruth Elswood looked nervous when she welcomed him in, even though her center had one of the cleanest slates in the county. The two exchanged a few friendly words, but Cooper, a polite man in his late 20s, had work to do.
He walked through the center, checking that electric outlets were properly covered, that refrigerators had working thermometers in them, that every bathroom had soap and paper towels within children's reach. He examined first-aid kits and made sure evacuation plans and fire safety drill records were intact.
That was just the beginning of the inspector's work. Once he finished his walk-through at the center, he plugged in his laptop, brought up an electronic inspection report, and sat down with piles of manila folders, examining the day care's records one-by-one.
"The hardest thing for us is keeping up with the records," Elswood said. She watched Cooper as he worked and added, "I know my (child-to-staff) ratios are fine, my classrooms are safe, my teachers' qualifications are up to par. But the records are tough."
Elswood had hired an office assistant to keep up with the paperwork, which must include children's enrollment and immunization records, as well as employees' training, immunization and criminal history records. The assistant's sole job is to monitor the paperwork. For example, 60 days before a child's next immunization is due, she sends a notice home to the child's parents.
Even so, Elswood said, some parents wait until the last minute. At times, she had to ask them not to bring a child back until the immunizations are complete.
Half-way through the final file in a stack of children's records, Cooper stopped and looked up. "Dr. Ruth? This child's immunization record is expired."
Elswood was aware of the problem, and the parents had already been notified. The day care was closed at the moment, and the child was supposed to be immunized by the time it opened again, she explained.
But the rules are the rules, and Cooper had to note the discrepancy in his paperwork. While the report turned out "satisfactory" overall, the fact there was a flawed file was known to anyone who viewed the day care's inspection records on a Department of Children and Families Web site. It also went into the day care's permanent record in the DCF's files.
After about two hours at First Presbyterian, Cooper finished the inspection and headed to the south end of Gainesville to Children's Palace Learning Center, where he started the process all over again.
In the meantime, health inspector Bekkah Marshall headed to the Early Years Learning Center on the north end of Gainesville.
The center's director, Pauline Cowart, asked a lot of questions as Marshall got started. Cowart had never operated a day care under a state license before. Instead, she worked under a religious accrediting agency's watch at Westside Baptist Church's day care.
Marshall found little wrong as she reviewed files and peeked in on napping children. The staff ratios were far better than the minimum standard of one adult for every 20 4-year-olds, for every 11 2-year-olds, for every six 1-year-olds and for every four infants. She gave the day care a satisfactory rating when she finished, and Cowart was noticeably relieved.
Until Oct. 1, Cooper and Marshall were responsible for inspecting the more than 200 child-care centers in Alachua County, not to mention tanning salons, massage parlors, mobile home parks, bars and other establishments the Alachua County Health Department monitors.
Now, the Department of Children and Families is responsible for inspecting and permitting child-care centers in Alachua County - a change officials from both the DCF and the Alachua County Health Department said will likely not change much about the inspection process for day cares.
Deborah Russo, director of child care for the Department of Children and Families, said there are slight differences in the way the DCF handles its inspection reports. For example, the DCF does not assign "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" ratings for the whole inspection, as the Alachua County Health Department did, and it breaks its violations into three classes, while Alachua County had two.
But like Alachua County did, the DCF issues fines and other punishments progressively, with steeper fines if a center continuously violates regulations, Russo said.
"We basically gradually increase the fines until we have to suspend or revoke a license," Russo said. "You don't see a revoked license until there's a pretty egregious violation."
Ester Tibbs, circuit administrator for the DCF, said one full-time inspector and one part-time inspector will be charged with inspecting the county's day-care centers, with help from inspectors in other counties as the workload demands. Unlike the Health Department's inspectors, inspecting day-care centers will be their only job.
Cooper said an inspector from any agency knows to tune into the subtle signs that serious violations lie afoot.
By the end of the day, Cooper and Marshall reported finding near-flawless day cares. But there were plenty of other days when their findings weren't so positive. "The first sign to me is unhappy kids," said Cooper, who has found day cares with children far out of ratio to staff, employees whose criminal backgrounds were never checked; and unsupervised children.
All of the violations and punishments Alachua County's licensed day cares have faced are public records available for viewing online at http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/childcare and at the DCF's Gainesville office at 1000 NE 16th Ave.