State Cracks Down on Residential Child Care : Regulation: Closure of 4 O.C. homes is part of ongoing campaign against substandard and unlicensed facilities.

For 10 years, Pam Coutts operated day care for children out of her Orange residence, but parents’ complaints mounted against her.

One complaint stated that Coutts had briefly hung a child on a doorknob by his overall straps, according to state documents. Another parent reported that Coutts’ 6-year-old daughter--who had been known to “poke and prod” children in her mother’s care--had turned on a vacuum cleaner that ripped a hank of hair from a child’s head.

And a third parent complained that her infant had become “very ill” when Coutts’ daughter filled a bottle with ordinary milk and gave it to her child, who was allergic to dairy products.

Coutts denied the allegations spelled out in the 13 separate complaints that state officials brought before a state administrative law judge. But the judge nonetheless revoked Coutts’ license and shut down her family day care home last March. Coutts did not return telephone calls for comment.

State officials say the closures of Coutts’ and three other day care homes in Orange County this year are part of a continuing crackdown on substandard and unlicensed day care homes, which in recent months have drawn a growing number of complaints.

“Some parents drop off their kids at their day care homes early in the morning and believe everything’s OK,” said Nancy Jezak, a licensing program analyst at the state’s family day care licensing division in Santa Ana. “In some cases, their kids have to put up with harsh treatment, and the parents don’t have a clue about what’s going on.”

There are 2,500 licensed family day care homes in Orange County that care for approximately 15,000 children, and Jezak says that the overwhelming majority are well run and comply with state regulations. A family day care home is licensed to care for up to 12 children. Many homes are operated by young mothers who want to supplement their income by caring for employed people’s children.

Some parents, whose weekly day care bill runs from $85 to $140 per child, prefer to leave their children in the more intimate setting of a private residence than the larger day care centers, some of which care for more than 100 children on any given weekday.

But state officials say complaints against these day care homes are steadily increasing. In June, the family day care licensing division of the state Department of Social Services in Santa Ana received 50 complaints about day care homes, compared to 26 complaints in May and 20 in April.

Jezak said the increasing number of complaints could be attributed to recent publicity about license revocations and the fact that more unemployed women have opened unlicensed family day care homes to earn money.

But state law requires that anyone who provides care for the children of more than one family must apply for a state license, Jezak said, noting that the requirement is meant to protect children. While processing the application, licensing officials check for criminal records among the home’s occupants and the safety of the premises.

Jezak said state officials deny few applications and “work with people to make sure everything is OK” in their homes before a license is granted.

But officials also follow up on complaints from parents.

The Santa Ana office, for example, had received 13 complaints against Coutts, who denied each allegation.

But Carolyn Dee Magnuson, an administrative law judge, found last March that while Coutts had “never intentionally caused any of (the children) harm, nor deliberately exposed them to risk,” the Orange woman had made mistakes in caring for the children.

Magnuson found that Coutts had failed to provide “safe and healthful accommodations,” and had also violated the terms of her license by caring for more than six children at once.

But some day care operators, against whom the state has filed revocation proceedings and other actions, claim in documents and interviews with The Times that they have been unfairly targeted by state officials.

Among them is Kathy Greeley, a 30-year-old Huntington Beach woman who was placed on probation for one year last March after pleading no contest to allegations that she operated an unlicensed family day care home.

Greeley told The Times that she moved her day care operation three times to evade state officials who had warned her about operating an unlicensed facility. “I take care of hard-to-handle kids so when (the state) shut me down, it was impossible for people to find somebody else to take care of their kids,” Greeley said. “The parents said if I move, they’ll leave their kids with me.”

Maggie Vance, a mother of three daughters with ages ranging from 4 to 14, placed her children with Greeley even though she knew the woman operated an unlicensed home.

“I don’t think (having a license) is a real testimonial to what people do to your kids,” said Vance, a personnel manager for a local construction company. “When you’re a working single mother, you worry about your kids. I feel safe with my kids here.”

Greeley’s mother, Sandra Greeley of Huntington Beach, who was placed on three years’ probation last March for running another unlicensed day care home, said state officials are too quick to enforce regulations.

“A lot of people are screaming about shortages of day care for working people,” Sandra Greeley said. “I feel if someone has a safe home, then (the state) should look the other way.”

But Jezak said state officials are obligated to monitor family day care homes and force them to comply with the law.

The state’s vigilance has received support from the Orange County Child Care Assn., a network of 825 licensed local family day care homes.

“I think that anything that puts a child in jeopardy needs to be handled,” said Mary Strong, the group’s president. “If we don’t investigate these complaints and follow up on them, then the children are at risk. . . .”

“Everyone mistakenly thinks that people who take care of children are good guys,” said Strong, who has operated a licensed day care facility in Westminster for the last 22 years. “Unlicensed facilities don’t have standards to uphold. I think a lot of parents who have a lot of stress and demands on their time must make the extra effort to ensure that their children are receiving the appropriate care.”

What to Watch For

Monitoring family day-care homes requires a partnership among the licensing agency, parents and the care provider. A checklist of how parents can help:

* Check the license: Ask to see day-care home license. Homes caring for children from more than one family must be licensed.

* Monitor frequently: Check on condition of the home regularly. Parents have the legal right to “drop in” at any time care is provided. Observe your child while there.

* Discuss any concerns: Inform care-giver of any conditions in the home that might endanger your child.

* If problems arise: Contact the local licensing agency at (714) 558-4563 if the care-giver fails to correct a hazard, refuses to take safety precautions, or if you believe your child has been harmed while in the provider’s care.

Source: State Department of Social Services