State launches investigation of Assembly's unregistered day care center

ALBANY — The state Office of Children and Family Services on Friday confirmed it will investigate an unlicensed child care center that state Democratic Assembly leaders have been operating for several months on the ninth floor of the Legislative Office Building.

The complimentary child care service, which has been staffed by two legislative aides, has provided what the chamber refers to as “drop-in” day care services for a handful of Democratic Assembly members since it was quietly launched earlier this year. Spokespeople for Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, who authorized the use of the conference room for that purpose, said it had also been offered to Republican Assembly members.

“OCFS has initiated an investigation of the program in question,” Solomon Syed, a spokesman for the agency, said in a statement Friday afternoon. “As the state oversight authority, OCFS will investigate after it is made aware of an alleged unlicensed or unregistered program.”

In a series of statements over the weekend, Syed outlined their handling of the matter and said that members of their office’s “legislative affairs staff” met with Assembly officials last year to provide “information on applicable regulations for child care services, including several program models that don’t require a license.”

But officials with OCFS and the office of Heastie have declined to provide more information about that meeting, including who were the attendees. OCFS officials did confirm that during that meeting they did not give any direction to the Assembly that it was appropriate or inappropriate to go forward with setting up an unlicensed facility.

“OCFS provided Assembly staff with information on applicable regulations for child care services, including several program models that don’t require a license,” Syed said.

On Monday, OCFS declined to say whether they had inspected the Assembly’s conference room that had been converted to a day care.

“Assessing if a child care program’s service model requires state oversight includes OCFS visiting the program in question,” Syed said. “Since this review is in progress, we cannot comment further at this time.”

Although Heastie’s office has used the term “drop-in center” to describe the day care room, OCFS generally defines those centers as serving homeless and runaway youth.

The Times Union reported Thursday that the conference room has housed a small unlicensed day care center serving a select number of Democratic Assembly members, many of whom bring their children along when they take part in legislative meetings and other government business. Heastie’s office has described the setup as a trial program to gauge the need among lawmakers for the service.

The large conference room has been fully converted to a child care setting, with amenitites that include a microwave oven, refrigerator, colorful floor mats, childrens' books, toys, blankets, pillows, a water cooler and at least one crib.

The Times Union monitored the office for several days recently and discovered that toddler-age children were being cared for there for more than several hours per day while the Legislature has been in session.

The conference room is steps from offices used by Assembly Majority Leader Crystal People-Stokes and Heastie. The space has been used for official purposes through the years ranging from legislative ethics meetings to employee training sessions.

“We know we have a need to provide the working parents with some assistance,” said Kerri Biche, a spokeswoman for Heastie, said this week. “We kind of developed this drop-in center as a trial. … It’s available to any legislator who has parenting needs.”

The Assembly’s informal child care services have not been offered to legislative staffers, some of whom have noted privately that some lawmakers direct them to watch their children while they are at the Capitol. 

“Members also get per diem money and free day care and staffers who serve as free nannies,” said a person who identified themselves as a legislative aide but asked to remain anonymous. “Members talk in front of staff about everything they do. We know to keep quiet or get fired. It is a silent understanding. Staffers earn very little and are not offered free child care for staff who have babies.” 

Biche said the two staff members who care for the children “had been teachers before in their previous employment so they’re dedicated staff in there.”

“One was hired to do this job plus another,” Biche added. “The other is an existing staffer who had previous experience and asked to be part of it. So on the days we’re not in session or we’re out of session they have other duties. But both have previous day care, teacher experience.”

Biche declined to identify the two staffers. Heastie’s office, which had offered the Times Union a tour of the day care room last week, has since retreated from that offer.

The Legislature has been in session for more than 40 days since January, including returning to Albany last week during a school holiday week when they had not been scheduled to meet.

In a statement on Thursday, Syed, the spokesman for the state Office of Children and Family Services, had said that if “a program meets the requirements under the law, then they must obtain a license or registration, regardless of whether the provider is compensated or has an informal agreement with the child’s parent or guardian. As the state oversight authority, if after an investigation OCFS determines a child care program is operating without a required license or registration, the agency issues a notice to cease operations.”

The Office of Children and Family Services, which licenses day care centers, defines a “small day care center” as “a program or facility which is not a residence in which child day care is provided to three through six children for more than three hours per day per child for compensation or otherwise.” There are added restrictions for small day care centers, including that “no more than two children under the age of 2 may be cared for at any one time” and “when any child who is less than 2 years of age is present, the maximum capacity is five.”

In the conference room used by the Assembly members, who are paid more than $141,000 a year, it’s unclear how much capacity there is or how many children — and what ages — have been cared for on a regular basis.

“The working world has changed. We’re more accommodating to being a family-friendly environment, and the speaker doesn’t want parents to have to choose between being a legislator and having young kids,” Biche said Thursday. “In some cases members have had to choose between leaving their young kid with a relative at home or trying to convince a relative to come up here and stay with them, and this is just trying to give them some flexibility.”

Michael Whyland, another spokesman for Heastie, noted that the speaker has the authority to provide benefits to members and that the center is viewed as a benefit.