Small Steps Nurturing Center-5th Ward

2 children with a diagsnosed food allergy were missing medication that the health care provider says needs to be part of the plan.

12 children transported were missing the Emergency Medical Authorization forms in the van.

The policy on file that was documented on 10/16/24 had expired on 9/19/25. Note: this was corrected at inspection when the director entered the updated policy in the on line provider portal account.

A self-report by the operation was made that a child was left unsupervised in the hallway for a minute.

The operation did not complete an incident report or share the report with the parent within 48 hours of the incident.

One child was left unsupervised in the classroom for several minutes.

4 out of 6 children with diagnosed food allergies did not have a complete and current food allergy emergency plan. 1 kid is missing Benadryl, 2 kids had expired epi-pens, 1 kid missing medication and authorization form.

Two tv monitors in 2 classrooms were unfastended to the children's bookshelf, posing as a tipping hazard.

The Emergency Prepardeness Plan is missing the address of the alternate shelter away from the center.

The transportation binder is missing Emergency medical transport and treatment authorization forms for 3 children being transported.

8 medications did not have the date received written on the container. Note; this was corrected at inspection when the director wrote on each medication the date it was received from the parent.

2 student volunteers, 1 caregiver and 1 contract vendor were with children without approved background checks.

The director did not have current transportation training, the last training was taken in 2021.

It was determined that a child was left alone for approximately five minutes.

Caregivers left a child on the outside patio of the classroom.

During review of transportation the operation was found to not have emergency medical information on van used to transport children. This was corrected when the director updated the transportation binder.

During the walkthrough I observed four buckets of disinfectant wipes and spray bottles with cleaning solution in the reach of children. This was corrected when the director removed the buckets and placed the bottles out of reach.