Opinion ID: 2453230
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Mathews[8]Test

Text: ¶ 14 To determine whether the legislative standards for an adjudicative proceeding satisfy constitutional due process requirements, we consider three factors: First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and finally, the Government's interest, including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens that the additional or substitute procedural requirement would entail. Post v. City of Tacoma, 167 Wash.2d 300, 313, 217 P.3d 1179 (2009) (quoting Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 335, 96 S.Ct. 893, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976)). Applying the Mathews factors, the preponderance of the evidence standard promulgated by the legislature satisfies due process at an administrative proceeding to revoke a home child care license.
¶ 15 Providing care to children is an enormous responsibility and an occupation that merits great societal respect. However, a license for a home child care facility is not a personal interest that compels a standard of proof beyond a preponderance of the evidence. A license to operate a home child care business adheres to the facility and not the individual provider. WAC 170-296-0020 (defining family home child care as a facility licensed to provide direct care to children). Unlike a professional license, the Department can revoke a home child care license for the misconduct of a resident other than the provider. WAC 170-296-0210, -0215. A provider can obtain a license for a home by completing a mere 20 hours of state approved training. WAC 170-296-1410(5)(d). Further, an individual who wishes to care for children but who lacks the requisite qualifications to obtain a license, can still potentially work in the field as a child care staff member. WAC 170-296-1410(6) (defining the less stringent requirements for child care staff). Someone who loses her license but continues to feel a vocational calling to provide child care can still work in the field under the supervision of another licensed child care provider.
¶ 16 It is unlikely that requiring the additional procedural safeguard of a different evidentiary standard is necessary to curtail erroneous deprivations of home child care licenses. Adjudicative proceedings already exist that afford significant procedural safeguards to a home child care provider. At an administrative hearing, a home child care provider benefits from an unbiased tribunal, notice of the proposed action and the grounds asserted for it, an opportunity to present reasons why the proposed action should not be taken, the right to call witnesses, the right to know the evidence against her, the right to have a decision based only on the evidence presented, the right to counsel, the making of a record of the proceedings, public attendance of the proceedings, and judicial review of the proceedings. See generally RCW 34.05.410-.598 (establishing applicable procedures for administrative proceedings and judicial review of such proceedings); see also Harry J. Friendly, Some Kind of Hearing, 123 U. Pa. L.Rev. 1267, 1279-95 (1975) (discussing the elements of a fair hearing). While additional procedural safeguards will always decrease the likelihood of revocation, that fact alone does not justify their adoption. Rather, the current procedures must suffer from inadequacies that make erroneous deprivations readily foreseeable. The current procedural protections in place sufficiently protect against erroneous deprivations.
¶ 17 The State's interest in protecting children from the threat of physical and sexual abuse is paramount. The legislature expressly states that [t]o safeguard and promote the health, safety, and well-being of children receiving child care and early learning assistance ... is paramount over the right of any person to provide care. RCW 43.215.005(4)(c). Though our inquiry concerning the State's interests does not defer to legislative proclamations, statutory aims and objectives serve as strong independent evidence of a public good's value. The State holds the highest interest in the protection of children. In fulfilling its obligation to protect children, the State must be able to regulate the providers and facilities to which we entrust their care. A requirement that the Department perfect its case to a quasi-criminal standard of proof could endanger children and ignores the reality and the responsibility of the State to protect its most innocent and vulnerable residents.