Harvest Child & Youth Development Center - New Castle

“On September 18, 2026, OCCL received a complaint regarding failing to administer medication as required and not following infant feeding requirements. An investigation began on September 25, 2026, and was concluded on September 28, 2026. This complaint is substantiated for failing to administer medication as required. At the direction of Administrator #1, medication was given to a child by a non-staff member, who was not certified to administer medication, and without a completed Medication Administration Record (MAR) on file for that child and medication. This complaint is also substantiated for not following infant feeding requirements. Staff #3 stated in an incident report they did not check the initials on the bottle before giving it to Child #2 and gave the wrong formula and bottle to the child. Staff #3 is no longer employed by the facility.”

“On September 18, 2026, OCCL received a complaint regarding failing to administer medication as required and not following infant feeding requirements. An investigation began on September 25, 2026, and concluded on September 28, 2026. This complaint is substantiated for not following infant feeding requirements. Staff #3 stated in an incident report they did not check the initials on the bottle before giving it to Child #2 and gave the wrong formula and bottle to the child. Staff #3 is no longer employed by the facility. DELACARE Regulation 63 states OCCL only allows staff members who are certified to give medication to children when a Medication Administration Record (MAR) has been completed. Because there was no MAR readily accessible, center administration declined to provide the medication to the child but erred by having the agency representative (AR) obtain verbal parent permission for the AR to administer the medication. Center administration should have contacted the parent to obtain the verbal permission and have had a certified staff member administer the medication. OCCL acknowledges that center staff were attempting to comply with DELACARE Regulations but made an error in judgement in suggesting a non-certified non-staff member administer medication to the child.”

“On February 6, 2026, the Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) received a complaint regarding allegations of insect infestation, lack of building security procedures to prevent unauthorized access, unsanitary toilet areas, and failing to follow child release policy. An investigation was conducted on February 19, 2026. This complaint is substantiated for lack of security procedures and failing to follow child release policy. Based on interviews, a person was able to access the facility without proper security procedures and Child #1 was released without staff identifying an unknown person. Based on interviews, observations, and documentation reviewed, there is no evidence to substantiate this complaint for insect infestation or unsanitary toilet areas.”

“Ensure staff files are complete”

“Ensure child files are complete”

“MAR needed for Child #4”

“All infants need a monthly feeding statement”

“Please submit renewal application 60 days prior to license expiration”

“Between October 1 and October 15, 2025, the Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) received five complaints regarding failing to meet the needs of children, not using appropriate behavior supports, incorrect staff-to-child ratios, lack of supervision, keeping an infant in confining equipment for more than 30 minutes, and failing to provide an injury report. The investigation began on October 3, 2025, and ended on October 24, 2025. After interviews and a review of camera footage, this complaint is substantiated for incorrect staff-to-child ratios. The infant classroom was observed on video with one staff member alone with six children on September 30, 2025. The complaint is substantiated for failing to have an understanding of and respect for children and their needs. Administrator #2 was heard on video telling another staff member that picking up a crying infant only makes it worse. An additional concern noted during the investigation was an infant was observed on video asleep in a bouncy seat for more than two hours. While Regulation #78 is not being cited as non-compliant, the time stamp on the video footage documented that Child #1 was in confining equipment (a crib) while awake and crying for exactly 30 minutes before being picked up by a staff member but immediately placed back in the crib. Based on interviews conducted, video, and documents reviewed, there is no evidence to substantiate this complaint for lack of supervision, failing to provide an injury report, or failing to use appropriate behavior supports.”

“Ensure staff files are complete. CPR and FA for staff #3,4,5,8,12 PD plan staff #1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,12,13,14 Staff #10 and 11 need full files Safe sleep for staff #1,2,3,5,6,7,9,12,13,14 Annual abuse and neglect staff# 2.5.6.9.12.13.14 OCCL H&S training Staff #4 App/resume staff #7,8 job description staff #4,7 references staff #4,7,8 Adult abuse staff #4,8 Health app and TB staff #4,7,8 ROE staff #1,7 fingerprints Staff #12,14,15 Service letters staff# 4,7,8 By 1-31-2025 Training hours needed for Staff # 5,7,8,9,12,13”

“Ensure child files are complete. Child #3 is missing blood lead results. Child #11 is missing health app and immunizations send to OCCL”

“Two- year old room needs diaper procedure posted in changing area. Send pics to OCCL”

“On March 28, 2024, the Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) received a complaint regarding allegations of not being respectful to a child and their needs. An investigation was conducted on May 2, 2024. This complaint is substantiated because when interviewed, Staff #1 stated to Adult #1 that Child #1, a two-year-old, must dress herself. After Adult #1 responded with concerns about that not being developmentally appropriate, Staff #1 rolled her eyes and ignored the concerns. Staff #1 stated she eventually helped Child #1 with her clothing.”

“Ensure maximum group size is maintained at all times. The One Year Old classroom (K2A) had 22 children and 3 teachers present. The Maximum group size was exceeded as there should be no more than 12 children in the classroom. LS [name withheld] and LS [name withheld] spoke with Administrator [name withheld] regarding the non-compliance and [name withheld] agreed to comply in the future.”

“On February 12, 2024, the Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) received a complaint regarding staff members beginning work prior to being determined eligible by the Criminal History Unit (CHU), lack of supervision, being out of staff-to-child ratio, having unqualified staff in the classrooms, not following a daily schedule including not providing outdoor play, and overuse of screen time. Additionally, this complaint was received regarding not washing children s bedding weekly, not cleaning and sanitizing the center daily, staff using their cellphones while working with children, no milk being provided during meals, and not all required meal components being offered. An investigation was conducted on February 16, 2024. This complaint is substantiated for staff working before completing a comprehensive background check and being determined eligible by CHU because four staff members present at the visit had not yet been determined eligible. Three of these staff were working before having fingerprints taken. This complaint is also substantiated for lack of supervision because children were observed in the boys bathroom unsupervised. This complaint is substantiated for not providing daily outdoor play because the infant and toddler classrooms were not provided outdoor play as listed on their daily schedule during this visit. This complaint is substantiated for overuse of screen time because more than one staff member interviewed stated over an hour of screen time is provided daily. This complaint is substantiated for staff using cell phones because two staff members were observed using their cell phones during nap time while responsible for caring for children, and one staff member was speaking on their cell phone in a classroom while caring for children. This complaint is also substantiated for not providing the required meal components because chocolate milk was provided to the children for lunch. There is no evidence to substantiate this complaint for not wash ing the nap bedding weekly because of interviews where staff stated the bedding is provided by parents and sent home weekly for cleaning. There is no evidence to substantiate this complaint for not cleaning and sanitizing the center daily because the applicant Raymond Williams and Administrator Letitia Williams stated the center has four contracted staff solely to clean and sanitize the center after closing and staff members stated they clean and sanitize throughout the day. There is no evidence to substantiate children not being served all food components because the menu matched what was being served on the day of this visit and met the requirements. An additional concern noted at the visit was the presence of school-age children in classrooms that were not enrolled in the center, some of the classrooms not having staff members signed out, and two classrooms not having children signed in or out. An additional concern noted at this visit was exceeding the maximum group size in the infant classroom and multiple infant safe sleep violations. During an initial walkthrough, an infant was asleep on a boppy pillow on the floor and another infant was asleep in a crib with a blanket. This was corrected, and then during a second walkthrough, this same infant classroom was over the maximum group size with 10 children present. The infants in the classroom again had blankets and bottles in their cribs. The same infant that was sleeping on the floor earlier in the visit was asleep in a swing with a blanket. Infant bottles were not labeled. The cribs were less than 18 inches apart. An additional concern noted was the use of an air freshener plug-in a classroom.”

“All staff files must be complete. Send the DEEDS certificate for one staff member. Send the CPR/First Aid certificate for six staff members. Send the Administration of Medication certificate for six staff members. Send the professional development plan for seven staff members. Send the Send the annual safe sleep and child abuse and neglect for one staff member. Send the staff orientation record for five staff members. Send the Health & Safety training for seven staff members. Send the references for seven staff members. Send the fingerprinting receipt for one staff member. Send the adult abuse registry for six staff members. Send the health appraisal with TB for four staff members. Send the release of employment history for two staff members. Send the service letters for eight staff members.”

“Send the completed Parent Right to Know log.”

“All child files must be complete. Send the signed parent permission form for one child. Send the current health appraisal with immunizations for one child. Send the blood lead screening for one child.”

“Send the DEEDS Early Learning certificate for six staff members.”

“All staff files must be complete. Send the current CPR/First Aid for six staff members Send the completed professional development plan for three staff members. Send the annual safe sleep and child abuse and neglect for six staff members. Send the completed staff orientation record for four staff members. Send the job description for two staff members. Send the references for six staff members. Send the adult abuse registry for nine staff members. Send the health appraisal with TB for four staff members. Send the service letters for six staff members.”

“Send the Health and Safety training certificate for all staff members.”

“All child files must be complete. Send the documentation of the completed blood lead screening for five children.”

“Ensure all hazardous chemicals are locked out of the children's reach in the following classrooms: K3A, K4, K4B, and K2B.”

“Remove the plug-in air freshener from classroom K4.”

“Ensure all cots are labeled in classrooms K2B and K4.”

“Send the completed Administration of Medication training certificate for five staff members.”

“Ensure all lesson plans include the food/healthy habits activity at least once a week. Send copies of the completed lesson plans for classrooms K4 and K4B.”

“Ensure all classrooms include the five required areas. Classroom K2B is missing science and art. Send pictures.”