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June 3, 2025 CERTIFIED MAIL Mary Barrone 1001 West Lyon Avenue Lake City, MN 55041-2015 License Number 1118822 FCC ORDER OF CONDITIONAL LICENSE Dear Ms. Barrone: Based on the recommendation from Wabasha County Department of Social Services (Wabasha County), the Department of Human Services (DHS) is placing your license to provide family child care at 1001 West Lyon Avenue Lake City MN on conditional status for one year, beginning June 3, 2025. This means you must meet certain conditions to maintain your license, detailed below. This order is based on your level of noncompliance with family child care licensing requirements. Our next steps and your options are also provided below. REASON FOR THE CONDITIONAL LICENSE 1. Commissioner’s evaluation of program In determining whether a licensing action is warranted, DHS evaluated the facts, conditions, and circumstances concerning your program’s operation. This includes consideration of the well-being of children in your program, available evaluations from consumers of your program, and information about the qualifications of caregivers working in your program. Specifically, because you failed to use appropriate behavior guidance, because you failed to ensure electrical receptacles were covered, because you failed to ensure toxic substances were inaccessible, because you failed to ensure each child had a clean separate towel, because you failed to follow health and sanitation requirements, and because you failed to ensure each child had complete enrollment paperwork. DHS has determined that it is appropriate to place your license on conditional status based on the violations identified below and the program evaluation. Legal Authority: Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.04, subdivision 6.1 2. Failure to comply with licensing laws and rules As a result of previous licensing visits, Wabasha County determined that your program failed to comply with the laws and rules for licensed family child care. DHS has considered the nature, chronicity, and severity of these violations, which are provided below. Legal Authority: Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.06, subdivision 1. Nature, history and severity of violations Licensing History The following violations summarize the nature of your previous licensing violations. Because these violations are now conclusive, the individual violations are not within the scope of your appeal rights. Please refer to the previously issued correction orders for further details on these violations. If you do not have copies of these orders, contact your Wabasha County licensor for assistance. DHS also considered this history as a factor when it determined that a Conditional License is appropriate. • April 14, 2025, Correction Order, which cited the following violations: o You failed to follow required behavior guidance standards when you did not use appropriate redirection for children biting. o You failed to ensure that all electrical receptacles were shielded or tamper proof. o You failed to ensure that all toxic substances were inaccessible to children when they had access to hand sanitizer, deodorizing spray, and an inhaler. o You failed to ensure that each child had a separate towel when only one towel was available. o You failed to follow health and sanitation requirements when you changed three diapers and did not wash your hands, you also did not clean the diapering surface with disinfectant as required. o You failed provide documentation that you had complete admission and arrangements forms on file when five forms were missing required information. Severity of violations Due to the serious and chronic nature of these violations, and the conditions in the program, which impact the health and safety of children in your care, your license to provide family child care is placed on a conditional status. Conditional License Terms In addition to the licensing rules and statutes for family child care, you are required to comply with the following terms: 1. You follow and comply with all applicable Minnesota Rules and Laws. 2. No variances to age distribution or capacity will be granted during the conditional period. 3. You must work with Wabasha County to obtain a mentor to work on ensuring you are following all family child care rules and laws. The mentor must be obtained within 30 days of the issuance of this order and must be approved by Wabasha County. Upon completion of working with the mentor you must submit a summary to Wabasha County of what you learned and changes you will implement into your program to support required compliance with licensing regulations including appropriate behavior guidance techniques, keeping a safe environment, and paperwork. 4. You must obtain a minimum of six hours of additional training within 60 days of this order. The training is in addition to the annual training requirements as listed in Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.50. The training must include behavior guidance. You must obtain prior approval from Wabasha County to ensure that the training is appropriate, and you must submit documentation of your attendance to Wabasha County. 5. You must either provide a copy of the Order of Conditional License to parents of children in care or document that all parents have been given an opportunity to review the Order. You must obtain parent signatures of each currently enrolled child, indicating they have either received a copy of the Order or had an opportunity to review the Order. You must provide this documentation to Wabasha County within 30 days of this order. For new families, you must submit documentation of compliance with this term to Wabasha County within 5 days of any child’s admission to your child care program. Ongoing Monitoring Your Wabasha County licensor will monitor your compliance with these terms and with all of the family child care rules and laws. This will include unannounced visits. If you fail to demonstrate substantial compliance with family child care requirements or with the terms of your conditional license that are provided above, DHS may take an additional licensing sanction, including a revocation of your license. YOUR RIGHT TO REQUEST RECONSIDERATION You have the right to request reconsideration of this order and the cited violations. Your request must: · Be in writing · Clearly state that you are requesting reconsideration of the conditional license · List each citation you are challenging and identify what is inaccurate or incomplete about the information in the order · Supply information that is accurate or more complete · State why you believe your license should not be on a conditional status · Be made before the deadlines provided below If you are mailing your request, it must be sent by certified mail and postmarked within 10 calendar days from when you received this order. If you do not meet this deadline, you lose your right to request reconsideration. The timeline to appeal began when you received this order. Please send it to: Commissioner, Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General Legal Counsel’s Office Attention: Licensing Legal Unit PO Box 64953 St. Paul, MN 55164-0953 If your request is being personally delivered, it must be received by DHS within 10 calendar days from when you received this order. Please bring it to: Commissioner, Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General Legal Counsel’s Office Attention: Licensing Legal Unit 444 Lafayette Road North St. Paul, MN 55155 Conditional license stayed pending reconsideration If you request reconsideration within the timeframes described above, the terms of the conditional license will not take effect until a decision is issued by DHS. If the conditional license is affirmed on reconsideration, the terms would take effect on the date of the reconsideration decision, and run for one year from that date. You continue to be required to comply with all family child care laws and rules. Prohibition against providing legally unlicensed child care If this action is not reversed on appeal, you will not be allowed to provide legally unlicensed child care to unrelated children. Operating an unlicensed family child care home is a misdemeanor offense. Posting of this licensing action You are required to place this Order of Conditional License in a place that is clearly noticeable to the people receiving services and all visitors to the facility for two years, even if you appeal. Legal authority for this licensing action · The timeline to request reconsideration of the order is provided in Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.06, subdivision 4. · Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.03, subdivision 2a provides that an applicant for licensure who has received a conditional license order that has not been reversed on appeal may not operate as a legally unlicensed child care provider. Operating an unlicensed family child care is a misdemeanor under Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.03, subdivision 3. · The requirement to post this order in a clearly visible location is required under Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.06, subdivision 8. · If a license holder files a timely reconsideration request, the terms of the conditional license are stayed pending a decision by DHS under Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.06, subdivision 4. Questions If you have any further questions regarding this matter, you may contact me at 651-431-6565. Sincerely,
Beth Donahue, Unit Supervisor Licensing Division Office of Inspector General cc: Theresa Elder, Wabasha County Department of Social Services 1The Office of the Revisor of Statutes recently updated its website to reflect 2024 legislative changes to Minnesota statutes. The Revisor’s website states that parts of Chapter 245A have been renumbered to Chapter 142B. Despite this language on the Revisor’s website, parts of Chapter 245A (2023), as referenced in this document, remain effective until DHS formally transfers power and responsibility for parts of chapter 245A to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families. The anticipated transfer date is July 1, 2025. Laws 2024, chapter 80, article 8, section 72; Laws 2023, chapter 70, article 12, section 30.
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