Vermont’s child care oversight system has significant gaps, a state audit says, raising questions about both child safety safeguards and the state’s ability to meet federal requirements tied to funding.
In the report shared by Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer, the auditor’s office said problems in how the state monitors providers and performs background checks could put children at risk and threaten federal child care dollars. The audit, described as 39 pages, highlighted weaknesses ranging from oversight procedures and background-check practices to technology used to track violations.
Hoffer’s report said the Vermont Child Development Division was inconsistent in how it classified and handled violations committed by individual providers between 2022 and 2024. The auditor’s office also said Vermont’s background check system for child care staff remains incomplete and takes too long, describing delays that can affect providers trying to expand or replace staff.
A key part of the audit focused on what happens when a new hire previously lived outside Vermont. In those cases, the state is required to run full background checks in the prior residence states and to include both in-state checks and a national FBI review for each candidate, Hoffer’s report said. The auditor’s team found the out-of-state information retrieved for those checks did not meet federal requirements because of miscommunications between Vermont agencies.
The audit also described a compliance problem tied to timing. Hoffer’s office said the temporary solution for staff shortages amounted to an inadequate half-measure: Vermont allowed child care staff to begin working before the required background checks cleared. Hoffer said state officials ran checks on multiple databases before issuing such temporary clearances, and required that employees be supervised while the background checks were completed, but the auditor concluded that the process was not compliant with federal rules.
The report’s timeline for background checks underscored the potential scale of the problem. Hoffer’s office said that in a sample of new hire files beginning last August, the median background check duration was 77 days—significantly longer than the 45-day maximum the audit said is imposed by federal regulations. Hoffer’s report added that the delays were also linked to operational headaches for providers seeking to add staff quickly.
Hoffer’s audit extended beyond background checks to how violations are classified and verified after they occur. The auditor said certain provider violations that should have been categorized as “serious” were not always labeled that way, and it described a small study of 40 audited standard citations in which 11 should have been marked “serious.” In Vermont, the audit said “serious” violations include inadequate staffing, inappropriate touch or discipline, and inadequate sanitation—categories that Hoffer said parents using violation reports to choose a program could miss if severity is not correctly reflected.
The auditor’s office also said officials did not always follow up with child care providers cited for problems to confirm that issues had been resolved and that parents received a full account of what happened. Hoffer’s report further said Vermont’s IT system for tracking data related to violations was outdated and that his team expressed “concerns about the completeness” of records the audit could draw from.
Janet McLaughlin, who leads the Vermont Department for Children and Families’ Child Development Division, provided attached comments in response to the report. McLaughlin said several agencies are “already working” to rectify the state’s background check system, according to the audit’s description. Her comments also said the division’s out-of-state check practices changed in February, and that a new digital system for organizing the information to comply with federal rules may take until next year to roll out.
McLaughlin also said that a $13 million federal award for child care would allow Vermont to direct resources to “dramatically reduce” wait times for background checks, the audit said. She told VTDigger the work should be complete by the end of this year, and in her statement to VTDigger on Monday she said the report provides recommendations for improvement and evidence that the state is continually working to enhance systems to meet child and family needs and come into compliance with federal requirements.
Hoffer’s audit, according to the AP report distributed with the Vermont audit findings, cited similar infractions at federally funded Vermont Head Start providers, which operate child care programs under the same federal regulations. McLaughlin’s attached response, as described in the audit, said her office would provide training and supervision to licensing staff to address gaps and said it was issuing a contract for a new IT system to track data relating to child care centers.