OCONTO COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) -- Action 2 News continues to follow the case against an unlicensed, uncertified Oconto County child care provider facing felony charges for child neglect.
As we have reported, Nicole Brewer, 36, of Pulaski faces seven charges of child neglect ranging in severity from emotional damage to great bodily harm.
Brewer is accused of watching up to 20 children in her home at one time, and she did admit to investigators she was not licensed or certified as a child care provider.
"Sometimes the hours of operation can be different, and the amount of children that a certified provider can have differs from state licensing," said Penny Helmle, economic support manager with the Oconto County Health and Human Services Department.
State law says "no person may provide care and supervision for four (4) or more children under the age of 7 for less than 24 hours a day unless that person obtains a license to operate a child care center from the Department [of Children and Families] ."
The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families refers to certification as "a voluntary form of regulation" for providers "who wish to care for fewer than 3 children under 7 years of age."
"One of the first things is they have to fill out the information forms to run criminal background checks, and those checks are done for anyone in the household age 12 and above," said Helmle.
Oconto County uses fingerprint checks on people in the household 18 years old or older. Children 12 years to 17 years old go through name checks.
Providers looking to get certified go through a thorough process of what Helmle calls "checks and balances." That includes the initial application, water tests, verification of up-to-date rabies shots for pets in the home, permission from the landlord to operate a business if the home is rented, and the creation of written policies justifying fees, when the fees are due, and if there is daycare liability insurance.
A childhood certification specialist for Oconto County also performs home visits with safety checks. The first visit happens before a person becomes certified, but the specialist also does one mandated unannounced home visit annually along with two announced visits each year.
The purpose is to make sure standards are being upheld at all times. Helmle says it is about making sure child care providers have the legal number of children and are doing child-friendly activities with them.
"They're caring for children. Parents are leaving their children in their care for sometimes up to 10, 12 hours a day," said Helmle. "It's important that the homes are safe. It's important that they have clean background checks, that they have training to care for these children."
Child care providers in Oconto County must go through re-certification every two years.
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After daycare owner's arrest, a look at child care provider licensing - WBAY
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