(123RF)

Oregon regulators should be upfront with parents about problems identified at state licensed child-care centers. The state needs to do a better job of living up to the promises it to made to disclose problems.

Should the state tell parents when it has complaints about a day care? Should it tell parents when day cares have a documented history of abuse and neglect? Should inspectors get out quickly to day cares when a child is seriously injured?

Yes. Yes and yes. But the state hasn’t been living up to those promises.

The state pledged to be more forthcoming in the wake of reporting by The Oregonian. One issue was that the owner of a Portland day care admitted using illegal opiates. She shouldn’t be in the day care business, right? Parents who send their kids to her day care should be notified, right?

That didn’t happen. The state could have chosen to do an emergency license suspension. In that case, parents would be notified immediately. But the state was not sure that the suspension would hold up in court and opted to not renew the day care’s license when it next came up. Parents were not told. The day care stayed open after its license expired. Some parents didn’t find out until seven months later that the day care was operating illegally.

After that incident and others, the state said it would post all complaints on a state website — whether they were found to be valid, invalid or unsubstantiated. It said it would disclose day cares with documented histories of abuse and neglect. The state also made the pledge to get inspectors to day cares within three business days of serious injuries to children.

The state has failed to do those things, though it has made some progress. Inspectors did make the three business day deadline 90 percent of the time from November to March. But the state has retreated on its promise to disclose day cares with histories of abuse and neglect because of confidentiality concerns. The state has also not lived up to its pledge to post all complaints. It has only posted complaints that are found to be valid. The state’s argument was that it could defame child care centers by posting complaints that are not found to be valid. But it now says it will, at some point, post the last two years of unsubstantiated complaints. Why not complaints older than two years? A provision in a union contract prohibits it. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees represents licensed in-home day care owners. That must be AFSCME’s idea of being strong for all working families.