Utah's well-known lack of child-care facilities is being highlighted again, this time in a spat between one of the state's largest providers and one of its government overseers.
Deborah Tilley claims the licensing division of the state Department of Health is trying to nitpick her out of business at a time when more than 90 providers in the state are closing or are up for sale. She said the agency has consistently harassed Tilley Time Child Development Centers over minor infractions such as an empty paper towel holder or the density of sand in a playground.
Tilley has two centers in Taylorsville that are licensed to care for a combined 331 children.
"We have never been close to being cited for an adverse condition," Tilley said, noting that a site inspection this past fall lasted more than five hours. "I have no problems with any of the other government agencies; their inspections take about 45 minutes."
She said she believes the state is trying to make an example of her because she, as a matter of course, appeals every infraction. She said that even though most have not
been serious and that she fixes problems the agency finds, just being cited can quickly hurt the reputation of a child-care center. "There is a lot of talk out there."
The importance of reputation was underscored earlier this month when the Utah Transit Authority announced a one-year pilot program with Tilley. UTA officials cited Tilley's 15 years of "positive child-care credentials" in announcing the partnership to provide child-care benefits to UTA's 1,600 employees.
Licensing agencies need to do their jobs, but there is also a need to expand access to child care, said Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley, who brought the fight to the attention of the Legislature's Administrative Rules Committee on Tuesday.
"The state is desperate for good child care," Mayne said. "Businesses that receive tax money should adhere to a higher standard, but something is amiss here, and we should not be trying to put people out of business who are providing this service."
Tilley's representation of the interaction between the center and the licensing division are "largely distortions," said agency attorney Doug Springmeyer.
The claimed five-hour visit actually lasted about an hour and a half, he said, adding that any delays were caused by inspectors being told to stand aside and wait until activities at the center were concluded so Tilley could accompany them around the site.
Extensions for infractions have been granted and the department has consistently provided the center due process, Springmeyer said. "There is no evidence of her being retaliated against, but there is a pattern of her trying to dictate to the department how it should conduct its business."
Iona Thraen, director of the state Division of Health Systems Improvement, said licensers have continually faced "an intimidation factor" in dealing with the center. They have been threatened, and center personnel have told inspectors they have been advised not to talk unless Tilley is present.
"We're kind of at a point where we don't know how to proceed," Thraen said. "There's been a lot of reactions to reactions and there tends to be a lot of emotion."
There tends to be a lot of emotion surrounding child care in general in Utah. The burgeoning need for it by regular working families and parents who are moving off welfare into jobs, combined with the extreme lack of it here, is converging into a major problem.
"Child-care access will be the major social issue in the next few years," said Terry Haven, local coordinator of the Kids Count, the annual state-by-state review of child welfare in the United States.
There will be no easy answers, Haven said. Both providers and licensing review agencies are doing their jobs, but some kind of middle ground must be found that doesn't thwart efforts to increase capacity.
In Utah, there are just more than 35,000 child-care slots available. There are 245,000 children ranging in age from infancy to 12 years old who either have two working parents or are in single-parent households.
In 1997, the state had 320 licensed day-care providers. In 2001, there are 258.
E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com