Blossoms Childcare Center 3 (Blossoms Childcare Inc)

Observation

Two staff were engaged playing with 2 infants that were awake in the play area; one staff on the floor playing with an infant, the other staff seated on a bench. Neither teacher was actively supervising the 3 napping children. A child slept in a crib placed around a wall where neither staff could actively supervise the sleeping infant who was asleep folded over. She was bent over at the waist with her head at her feet. Neither teacher could see this child from where they were. The child placed in the crib could not be seen until stepping down into the area where the cribs were located. The other 2 infants could be seen if the teachers stood up and moved closer to the crib area. Dispute Description: To whom it may concern This letter is to dispute the safe sleep violation dated April 17th 2024 in it it states that two teachers were playing with their children awake while their sleeping children were not being actively supervised. This is simply not the truth. The observation is incomplete and assumed. One teacher was indeed sitting in the area of the room where the awake child was playing. The other teacher had just taken a child who had woken up from sleeping and sat the child down and grabbed the toy to entertain him. She was going back to watch the other children who was sleeping when licensing stepped in. I cannot, in good conscience, sign my name agreeing to the assumption that there were two teachers playing with two children while three other babies were sleeping unsupervised. There were five babies and two teachers in the space. This is way under the standard ratio and the notion that children are not being actively supervised is just not true. The room in question had a wall removed at great cost on the direction of the Washington health specialist and the space is considered one room. Therefore all children within the space are within sight and hearing range. The safe sleep violation states children were not being actively supervised but according to WAC 110-300-0291 active supervision is defined by visually checking every 15 minutes and being in hearing and seeing range. If a teacher takes an infant from crib to floor and then make sure the infant who just woke up is sitting stable and his toys to entertain him slash her before again observing the sleeping infants this does not describe infants not being actively supervised. The fact is that children were actively supervised by checking on the sleeping infants every 15 minutes and by being in the same room where all the children are within sight and hearing range. The definition of active supervision is time dependent and because of this, a snapshot observation is just not complete and does not tell the whole story. The complaint also states that a child was in a Taco position. This verbiage insinuates neglect. The truth is the child in question meets the guidelines of an infant who independently rolls from back to front and front to back. She's 10 months old, sits independently and pulls himself to a standing position. The WAC stated that we need to lay the infant on the back but if they can roll front to back and back to front then they can stay in the position they like to sleep in. We have had conversations with the parents of this particular child and she is just bent on sleeping in funny positions. She has been placed on her back but always ends up falling asleep in whatever Taco position she chooses. I have enclosed the letter from the child's mother confirming this. I'm asking that the safe sleep violation be dismissed based on the facts and not a snapshot observation period the WAC is intended as an observation that must be at least 15 minutes long to determine actively supervised. The classroom is very active and busy and changes every minute. The truth is there was active supervision going on especially for our Taco baby who gets checked way above the 15 minute visual check and all babies were insight and hearing range as they were all in the same classroom when licensing came by on April 17th 2024. Rebekah Stemhagen. As Olivia Hatate’s mother, I can confidently say that when Olivia goes down to sleep, she is very flexible and finds her own comfortable position. The vast majority of the time, she will immediately roll over onto her stomach when we place her down on her back. She is 10 months old on April 22nd and has been rolling back-to-front and front-to-back with ease since she was about 5 months old. As she has learned to sit up on her own and crawl, she will often move around a lot while trying to fall asleep. This can often look like her rolling onto her stomach or folding her knees under her to raise her bottom in the air. There are many instances of her sitting up and folding over her legs as she is tired and trying to fall asleep (like she is folding over in a taco position). We have tried to move her out of positions that look uncomfortable to us, but she always puts herself back in those positions. The Blossoms staff and I have talked about her flexibility and how that impacts her sleep positions. I am fully confident that the entire Blossoms staff is caring very well for my daughter who is always very happy and well rested when I pick her up. As her mother, I have never been concerned about how the Blossoms staff is caring for Olivia. If there are further questions, I would be happy to elaborate. Emily Hatate