Shelter children in peril

No regulation

Many of the youngest tykes in homeless shelters are being placed in childcare centers that don’t have to meet the city’s health and safety requirements, according to a scathing report issued Wednesday.

The decades-old exemption allowed 82 percent of the staffers at 43 shelter-based child-care centers to get hired without undergoing criminal background or child abuse checks, according to Comptroller Scott Stringer.

At 21 child-care centers visited by auditors, 24 percent of the staffers couldn’t provide photo ID when requested.

The comptroller’s review also found no sprinklers at 41 percent of the child-care centers visited and no fire extinguishers at 18 percent — conditions Stringer said wouldn’t be tolerated at facilities outside the shelters.

“The investigation reveals that New York City has created two standards of care — an inferior system for homeless children and one for everyone else,” he said.

“We found a lack of oversight in shelters that we inspected, as well as conditions that would give any parent nightmares — and that is not acceptable.”

Overall, of the city’s 167 shelters that serve families with children, only 51 have on-site child-care centers and just eight of those were issued permits by the city.

An additional 17 shelters have agreements for off-site child-care options, while 99 offer no child care at all, according to the report.

In April, there were 5,705 children under age 3 housed at these shelters.

While state provisions require state-licensed shelters to offer child care and city contracts often require service providers to facilitate child care, many shelters — particularly commercial hotels — operate outside both systems, according to the report.

That includes the 43 child-care centers without permits, which officials told the comptroller’s office are exempt based on a 1992 state Department of Social Services ruling.

The city didn’t respond when asked whether they would conduct background checks on the workers identified in the audit but said homeless officials are working to develop a better child-care system.