At a San Bernardino County group home, a boy who suffered from seizures and was supposed to have constant attention drowned in the home's pool, state records show. After another child notified employees that the boy was at the bottom of the pool, it became clear that none of the five staff members on shift had taken first-aid training, as they were required to do. The home, Apple Valley Center for Learning, surrendered its group home license without admitting wrongdoing. If applicants aren't qualified to care for children themselves, they are supposed to hire an administrator who is qualified to run a group home for troubled children, and a licensed social worker. In a six-month investigation, The Bee found numerous cases in Sacramento and elsewhere in which staff ranging from executive directors and administrators to primary child care workers were cited for inadequate knowledge of state laws and regulations, lack of qualifications and for substandard care of children.
Some group homes escape scrutiny for even the most basic regulations.
On the front line, where workers are in daily contact with children, there are loopholes. Group homes are required to submit to the state, within four days of hiring someone, the employee's fingerprints for a criminal background check. However, the state routinely grants waivers on records checks so that new hires at group homes can begin work pending completion of the check. A spokeswoman for group homes in Los Angeles said this is not the way group homes want to do business, but they don't have much choice because it takes the state six weeks to three months to complete background checks. Linda Lewis, executive director of the Association of Children's Services Agencies in Los Angeles, said small homes cannot afford to have a person on their payroll for that long and not working.