How to:
Right Column
Child Care Updates - December 2003
COMMUNITY CARE LICENSING CHILD CARE UPDATE
Seasons Greetings to Everyone! This is our last Update for 2003 and closes the tenth year of our efforts to keep the child care community informed about licensing programs and services. The Updates continue to be an important method for sharing information. We appreciate your support in sharing these Updates with those in your organization and others interested in child care issues.
2003 CHAPTERED LEGISLATION
Enclosed is a summary of legislation passed in 2003 that affects child care facilities. The summary includes our implementation plan for each bill. Unless otherwise noted, each bill becomes effective January 1, 2004. Questions regarding the implementation of any of the legislation discussed should be directed to Linda Inglett, Manager, Child Care Policy Unit, Statewide Child Care Licensing Program, (916) 229-4500.
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER ISSUES EXECUTIVE ORDER
Executive Order S-2-03 directs State Departments to cease processing any proposed regulatory action, including emergency regulations for further review for a period not to exceed 180 days. In addition, within 180 days each program is directed to review all regulations enacted since January 6, 1999, and must address the impact and authority of the adopted, amended or repealed regulations on California businesses. To view the executive order in more detail, visit the governor's website at: www.gov.ca.gov .
The following regulation packages are currently on hold for child care facilities. The status of each package is provided for information only. We will report in future updates the status of these packages once we receive additional information or the executive order is lifted. If you have questions about any of the proposed regulations, please contact Carole Jacobi, Chief of the Policy Development Bureau, at (916) 322-5502. For copies of the proposed regulations or more information about hearing schedules, contact the Department's Office of Regulations Development at (916) 657-2586, or visit their website at www.dss.cahwnet.gov/ord/default.htm . Please note that depending on the version of software that you are currently using, it might be necessary to press your control key to activate the hyperlinks found throughout this document.
Family Child Care Home Reporting Requirements and Family Child Care Consumer Awareness Information: These regulations establish and specify reporting requirements for Family Child Care Home licensees pursuant to Assembly Bill (AB) 685 (Wayne), Chapter 679, Statutes of 2001. Regulations will require licensees to notify parents/authorized representatives and the Department of Social Services of any unusual incident or injury to any child while in care in a licensed family child care home. Because these requirements are in California law, the Department will continue to implement them, based on the statute, as outlined in our memo to Family Child Care Home Licensees, dated July 11, 2003. These regulations also establish the requirement that licensees provide the Family Child Care Consumer Awareness Information, LIC 9212 (11/03), to the parent /authorized representative of children at the time of their admission into a Family Child Care Home.
Records Removal and Reproduction Regulations: These regulations will clarify and establish the Department's authority to inspect, audit, and copy client or facility records upon demand during normal business hours. They will also permit licensing staff to remove records if necessary for copying. Safeguards will prohibit the removal of emergency or health-related information (unless duplicate information is available), and standards will be established for the safe removal and timely return of records to facilities. These regulations will apply to all facility categories, and will enhance the Department's ability to protect the health and safety of clients in care.
Fire and Life Safety Emergency Regulations: These regulations will clarify requirements for smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in residential care facilities and child care centers; will set standards for emergency drills; and will make related regulations consistent across facility categories.
CHANGE IN CCLD PROGRAM FOCUS
You are all aware that fiscal constraints and budget challenges have had a major impact on State programs. For the Community Care Licensing Division, the budget challenges have resulted in a significant shift in how we use our resources to ensure client safety. Our new focus will include required annual visits to facilities with identified legal or compliance issues and random sampling of 10% per year of other facilities. The new focus is consistent with our program priorities and ensures that we have sufficient staff to meet our program priorities. Timely completion of complaint visits, case management visits, visits to follow-up on incident reports, plan of correction visits and processing application will continue to be priority activities, and will be an essential part of our ongoing efforts to provide protection for clients in care.
In addition to the above reduction in the number of visits to facilities, the Community Care Licensing Division had to identify programs that would be cut or reduced while keeping as many of the health and safety components of the programs as possible. We regret that as a result, the Child Care Advocate Program, which has been a valuable resource for the Licensing Program and the child care community, has been reduced significantly. Regional Offices will not have local advocates assigned to their areas, and some services will not be available.
The Child Care Regional Offices will cover some of the Advocate functions to the extent possible.
LICENSING MANAGEMENT CHANGES
We want to welcome Valerie Jones to the Child Care Program Office as the new Assistant Program Administrator for the Northern Region, replacing Bill Jordan who is now head of the Caregiver Background Check Bureau. Valerie has been with Licensing in administrative positions for a number of years, and we are pleased to have her experience and expertise in the child care program. We were sorry to lose two of our Los Angeles Regional Office Managers recently. Sergio Ramirez has transferred from the Los Angeles Northwest Child Care office to the Children's Residential Program Licensing Office in Riverside, and Lois Petzold retired from the Los Angeles East Child Care Office. We are in the process of hiring new managers for these offices.
FORMS
The Department of Social Services receives a significant number of requests for licensing (LIC) forms. Many of the "LIC" forms used by the Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) and licensees are available in English and Spanish via the Internet at the following Department of Social Services websites:
www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cdssweb/PG183.htm
www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cdssweb/PG176.htm (Español)
Also, "PUB" brochures and notices can be accessed at the following Department website:
www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cdssweb/PG167.htm#p
Occasionally we receive input from individuals that they are having difficulty finding the CCLD forms website. For individuals interested in having direct access to CCLD forms, they should follow the procedures below:
- Visit the CCLD website at: http://ccl.dss.cahwnet.gov . This is the CCLD home page. In addition to licensing forms, the CCLD home page will provide you with a wide variety of information regarding the licensing program.
- To obtain licensing forms, click on "Licensing Forms" in the margin at the left-hand side of the screen of our home page. Then click on the first web address for forms in English and the second web address for forms in Spanish.
- At the left-hand side of the screen click on "On-line Forms and Publications I - L". All licensing forms are labeled "LIC", are numbered, and titled.
Please note that these forms are not hosted on the CCLD website or maintained by the CCLD Webmaster. If you have problems accessing them, please refer your comments to the Department of Social Services, Forms Management Unit at: fmudss@dss.ca.gov .
COLLABORATION WITH SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
The attached memo to Licensees of Child Care Centers on Public School Sites addresses arrangements for commingling licensed preschools and Special Education programs for outdoor activities. The memo was developed in an effort to maximize compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and provide opportunities for greater social and educational development for children in licensed centers and Special Education Programs. Licensees interested in pursuing this are required to submit a revised plan of operation that details their proposal for ensuring that health and safety standards can be met. Please see the attached memo for further information.
SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME (SIDS)
The California Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Program is under the direction of the California Department of Health Services, Maternal and Child Health Branch, and was developed to help the many individuals in California affected by a SIDS death. SIDS is the sudden, unexpected death of an infant, usually under one year of age. SIDS occurs in all types of families, regardless of race or socioeconomic level. SIDS is unexpected, usually occurring in otherwise apparently healthy infants from one month to one year of age. The SIDS Program offers many services to grieving parents, family members, expectant parents, and new parents looking for facts about SIDS, and to professionals wanting information and training on how to effectively handle SIDS cases. Because SIDS deaths can and have occurred in child care facilities, the Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division, would like to join the SIDS Program in increasing public awareness and knowledge of SIDS. The SIDS Program web site is designed to serve the many individuals affected by a SIDS death, and to educate the public about SIDS. You will find a wide variety of information on their site, including Grief & Bereavement resources, SIDS Facts, and methods for Reducing the Risk of SIDS. The web site also provides you access to several booklets on risk reduction. Please take the time to visit the SIDS Program web site at: www.californiasids.com .
We also recommend that you go to www.cippp.org/sheets/safetysheet.htm and scroll down and click on the particular age range to access injury prevention informational sheets from birth to 20 years of age. These informational sheets have been developed by the Childhood Injury Prevention Program, a project of the Center for Injury Prevention Policy and Practice (CIPPP). To access the CIPPP home page and obtain additional information regarding that program, go to:
www.cippp.org/index.htm .INFLUENZA UPDATE
In a November 17, 2003 press release, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson once again encouraged Americans, particularly those at high risk of serious complications from influenza, to get their flu shot as soon as possible.
"Each year in the United States 36,000 people die from complications related to the flu," Secretary Thompson said. "Early indications are that we may be in for a more severe season than in the previous three years.
Since that November press release, some areas of the country have been particularly hard-hit with influenza and it has been a very difficult and frightening thing for many people, particularly since receiving reports of vaccine shortages. We also know that many children have been affected. Some children and adults have already died this year. We are very saddened about this and our hearts go out to the families of those individuals.
Because of this, we want to ensure that child care program staff, licensees, and parents are well informed regarding influenza. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disseminate information to the public in an effort to control diseases and injuries; enhance health decisions by providing credible information on critical health issues; and promote healthy living through strong partnerships with local, national, and international organizations.
To obtain general information about influenza, up-to-date information on the current influenza situation, and a wide variety of information regarding general health and safety issues, please visit the website for the Centers for Disease Control at: www.cdc.gov/flu/ .
TUBERCULOSIS SKIN TESTING OF CHILDREN IN CHILD CARE CENTERS
On August 22, 1997, Martha Lopez, the Deputy Director of the Community Care Licensing Division at that time, issued a memo to all Regional Managers and Child Care District Office Managers containing revised policy regarding Mantoux skin testing of children who attend child care centers. The revised tuberculosis (TB) policy was issued at the request of the Division of Communicable Disease Control at the California Department of Health Services (CDHS).
Recently, CDHS and some Regional Offices have begun receiving calls again concerning the discrepancy between state regulations and national consensus recommendations. To prevent further confusion, we would appreciate your help in ensuring that all staff are aware of the following information and policy.
CDHS brought to our attention a February 1996 publication titled "Update on Tuberculosis Skin Testing of Children," by the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This update noted that:
. . . routine tuberculin testing, including school-based programs that include populations at low risk, has either a low yield of positive results or a large number of false-positive results and represents an inefficient use of limited health care resources. Therefore, children without risk factors do not need to have routine tuberculin skin testing.
The recommendations of the AAP committee-which were distributed to TB controllers statewide-included replacing the routine skin testing of large populations of children with focused screening of children at increased risk of tuberculosis. Children at increased risk are now identified through routine health-care evaluations and investigation of contacts of persons with TB. The risk factors for TB in children are:
- Have a family member or contacts with a history of confirmed or suspected TB.
- Are in foreign-born families and from high-prevalence countries (Asia, Africa, Central and South America).
- Live in out-of-home placements.
- Have, or are suspected to have, HIV infection.
- Live with an adult who is infected with HIV.
- Live with an adult who has been incarcerated in the last five years.
- Live among, or are frequently exposed to, individuals who are homeless, migrant farm workers, users of street drugs, or residents in nursing homes.
- Have abnormalities on a chest X-ray suggestive of TB.
- Have clinical evidence of TB (e.g., cough, fever, night sweats, weight loss).
Based on this finding, the following policy has been in effect since 1997:
Any child who attends a child care center is required to have a Mantoux skin test for TB only if the child's medical assessment indicates that the child has risk factors for TB. All children must be screened for risk factors for TB as part of the medical assessment. However, skin testing is required only if determined to be necessary by a physician based on the child's risk factors for TB.
Personnel in child care facilities and any adult in a family child care home at the time children are in care, are to continue to be tested for TB as required by the regulations.
In addition, children in residential community care facilities--who automatically have the risk factor of living in an out-of-home placement-are to continue to be tested for TB as required by the regulations.
The LIC 701 form, "Physician's Report-Day Care Centers," was revised at that time to comply with the revised policy. (Please see the attached sample of a current LIC 701.) The LIC 701 has an area at the bottom of the form for the child's physician (or designee) to indicate that the child has been screened for risk factors for TB.
If you have questions regarding this policy, please contact Linda Inglett, Manager, Child Care Policy Unit, Statewide Child Care Licensing Program, (916) 229-4500.
LICENSED CHILD CARE STATISTICS
Enclosed are the most recent statistics on licensed child care facilities and capacities . Further breakouts by category and location are available. Your request may be directed to Jeff Hiratsuka, Chief, Central Operations Branch, at (916) 322-4875.
SUMMARY
If you have questions about items included in this Update or suggestions for future topics, please contact Melissa Miller, at (916) 229-4500. You may also visit our internet website at www.ccld.ca.gov to obtain copies of licensing Updates, office locations, provider letters, regulations, forms, the Licensing Evaluator Manual, or to learn more about licensing programs and services.
Best wishes to you and all in your organization for a wonderful New Year.
Sincerely,
DAVE DODDS, Deputy Director
Community Care Licensing Division
Enclosures