The Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) at our most recent CCLD/CCPU quarterly meeting announced that it is resuming licensing visits to the homes of family child care providers. Following up on that announcement, CCPU representatives raised concerns we were hearing from our members, particularly around the safety of having an LPA (Licensing Program Analyst) in our homes during the COVID pandemic. Most providers have controlled entrance into their facilities, including asking parents to leave and pick up their children at the front door, not entering into the facility. In a further conversation with Shanice Orum, the program administrator for child care programs, we learned the following:
- The department has statutory authority to resume the visits;
- CCLD is requiring weekly COVID testing of all LPAs who are going into the field;
- CCLD cannot require that LPAs be vaccinated but is encouraging it;
- CCLD has reached out to other states who have been making home visits during the pandemic to learn how they have been conducting them;
- CCPU will be able to provide input/feedback on a draft PIN (Provider Information Notice) & can be sure that providers’ voice is heard again; and
- CCLD will be putting out a PIN before resuming the visits, with guidance as to how this will play out with further health and safety information after receiving guidance from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and our own State Department of Public Health. This PIN will hopefully have enough guidance for a provider about the safety precautions that the department will employ to relieve providers of any stress created by the visit.
If you have any questions about the resumption of visits, please reach out to CCPU at info@childcareprovidersunited.org.