In ChildFriendly Pro's September 2026 Lunch & Learn, child care operator Krystal Churcher explained that most child care liability starts as small, normalized operational gaps, and that operators should run every concern through a four-step identify, implement, monitor and respond cycle and be able to answer three questions: what did we know, when did we know it, and what did we do about it.
What the session covered
Risk management in child care covers what happens between the licensing regulations and a program's day-to-day operation. Churcher described four layers of risk: regulatory risk (ratios, licensing requirements, required documentation and staff qualifications), people risk (distraction, shortcuts and complacency, including among experienced educators), operational risk (unclear responsibility, expired staff documents and unanswered complaints) and liability risk (parent complaints, employee disputes, serious incidents, regulatory investigations and insurance claims). She stated that compliance is not a binder: policy explains what should happen, practice shows what actually happens, and documentation provides evidence of what happened, and the three must line up. A defensible program can show its policy, how staff were trained, how practice is monitored, what happens when practice falls short and the documentation of follow-up. The session was structured on a learn, apply and lead framework and was accompanied by an operator toolkit for registered attendees. Churcher noted that good programs still make mistakes; the difference is whether the issue is identified, corrected, documented and followed up.
How do small compliance gaps become liability for a child care center?
Churcher said significant compliance problems usually begin as small gaps: incomplete attendance, missing staff or medical records, a policy interpreted differently, an educator taking a shortcut, or a supervisor avoiding conflict. Gaps grow when they are normalized with phrases such as "she always does that" or "licensing has never said anything." Her example was an educator who repeatedly skips the outdoor playground safety check; after an injury six months later, the questions become whether the playground was checked, whether the educator was trained and what leadership did about it. A second example was an educator leaving the playground to take a child to the washroom, which raises questions about communication, ratio recalculation, floater coverage and whether leadership had seen it happen before. Operational risk becomes liability when leadership knew of a concern but did not act, when practice contradicts policy, when documentation is incomplete, when serious incidents are not escalated and when complaints are ignored. She warned against relying on verbal communication, because no one remembers a conversation six months later.
What systems help directors document incidents and parent complaints?
Churcher's compliance cycle has four steps: identify the requirement, the risk and who is responsible; implement through training and tools; monitor whether practice actually changed; and respond by correcting, documenting, following up and reassessing. She said monitoring is the step most programs miss. Using medication administration as an example, a director who finds three forms missing signatures in a month should fix the system and retrain rather than wait for licensing to find it. Her documentation rule was: if it matters enough to act on, it matters enough to document. Good documentation is factual, timely and specific, and shows what happened, what leadership knew, what was done and what happens next. After a serious incident, safety comes first, then structure: what happened, who observed it, what information to preserve and whether licensing, parents, insurance or other leaders must be notified. For parent complaints, she advised treating a complaint as information, listening before defending, separating fact from assumption, investigating and communicating next steps. Her example response to "the teachers are always standing around talking" was "tell me what you've been noticing."
When should a child care leader coach, correct or escalate a staff concern?
Churcher described four situations. A knowledge gap means the educator does not understand the expectation, such as a new educator unsure how to position themselves on the playground; the response is to explain and show. A competency gap means the educator understands but cannot perform consistently, such as focusing on one child and not scanning the group; the response is coaching, demonstration and a plan. A performance concern means the educator understands and can do it but does not, such as repeatedly sitting on a phone after being told not to; the response is correction and a performance review. A serious risk, such as knowingly leaving children unattended, requires escalation. She advised never performance managing someone for something they were not properly taught, but also not endlessly retraining a performance problem, which itself creates risk. For real-time correction, she proposed notice, name, next step and follow-up: describe what was observed, name the supervision risk, state what must happen differently, such as confirming coverage before leaving a position, and check the next transition.
Risk and compliance practices from the session
| Time | Key point | What centers should do |
|---|---|---|
| 04:53 | Four layers of risk: regulatory, people, operational and liability. | Review each room for risks in all four layers, not only licensing items. |
| 08:18 | Compliance is not a binder: policy, practice and documentation must line up. | Observe whether current practice matches each written policy and update outdated ones. |
| 11:07 | Problems grow when people normalize them. | Treat phrases like "she always does that" as a signal to investigate. |
| 14:50 | Ask whether an issue is knowledge, competency, leadership, systems or accountability. | Diagnose the type of issue before choosing a response. |
| 15:47 | Compliance cycle: identify, implement, monitor, respond. | Schedule monitoring checks, the step most programs skip. |
| 18:13 | If it matters enough to act on, it matters enough to document. | Write factual, timely, specific notes showing what leadership knew and did. |
| 21:52 | A parent complaint is information, even if you disagree. | Listen first, investigate second and respond third. |
| 23:35 | Real-time correction: notice, name, next step, follow-up. | Describe the behavior, name the risk, state the new expectation and recheck. |
| 29:39 | Do not performance manage someone for something you never properly taught. | Confirm training and demonstrated competency before treating it as performance. |
| 32:00 | Three questions after any serious issue: what did we know, when, and what did we do? | Keep records of concerns, coaching, escalation and follow-up observations. |
How ChildFriendly Pro automates this
The session described leaders relying on verbal reminders, binders and memory to track staff documents, incidents and corrective action. At 35:30, Wayne Chen from ChildFriendly Pro outlined digital staff records with permission and approval levels, digitized incident and illness reports with signatures and notifications, reminders for expiring staff certifications and evaluations, staff-to-staff messaging, and staff trend reports.
