5/6/22

To Center Child Care Providers,

The Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) informed you that as of May 1, 2022, staff must have a DEEDS certificate to work in that role, not just apply for a certificate. Our goal is to have safeguards in place so that only eligible, qualified persons can be alone with children while still working to meet the needs of the center. However, please note that a person may work as an aide without a qualifications certificate.  Consult center regulations for details.

After receiving your concerns regarding this policy change, OCCL has decided that staff members who have applied for a DEEDS position of intern or higher may be alone with children before receiving their certificate with the following conditions:

1. The person must be at least 18 years old and determined eligible by the Criminal History Unit.
2. There must be two pieces of documentation in the staff file while the individual waits for review and approval from DEEDS staff.
   • The first required document is received when the staff is ready to submit their application to DEEDS Early Learning; the screen will display which certificate they have requested .  The person must print this screen. (See attachment:  Final Step in Application)
   • The second required document is an email the person receives after the application is received by DEEDS, within a matter of seconds.  This document must be printed to include the date that the email was received.  (See attachment:  DEEDS Email notification.)

This temporary approval will be valid for a maximum of 60 calendar days. If no DEEDS qualification certificate has been received and placed in the personnel file within this period, the individual reverts to aide status and must comply with those regulations.

As follow-up to the last provider call, several names were mentioned of persons waiting for their certificates.  Many of them were checked by an Office of Early Learning staff member and no pending applications were found in DEEDS under the specific names mentioned.  OCCL also wants you to know that an additional DEEDS staff person will be starting next week to help expedite the application process.

We continue to acknowledge the work force crisis and hope that these changes are helpful to you.

THE OFFICE OF CHILD CARE LICENSING

DEEDS Email notification