Virginia Law

A. Policies and agreements.

1. Policies. The system shall establish and maintain written policies regarding:

a. The roles, rights and responsibilities of the system in the supervision and approval of member homes and referral of children to those homes;

b. The roles, rights and responsibilities of homes that are members of the system;

c. The roles, rights and responsibilities of parents of children who are cared for in homes that are members of the system;

d. Procedures for consultation to prospective providers to include alerting them to zoning and other local ordinances;

e. Procedures for evaluation, selection and initial approval of homes as members of the system;

f. Orientation and training of operators and staff of homes that are members of the system;

g. The annual renewal of approval of homes as members of the system; and

h. Procedures to be followed to assure that all areas of non-compliance with approval requirements have been corrected.

2. Agreements.

a. The system shall have a written agreement with each member home which specifies at least the following:

(1) The home's agreement with the system's policies in the areas identified in subdivision A 1 of this section;

(2) The financial agreement between the system and the member home;

(3) The system's role in assisting the home in developing a plan to meet the needs of each child accepted for care;

(4) They system's role in planning for regular conferences between the home and parents of children in care;

(5) The system's responsibility for supervision of children's care and adjustment;

(6) The rights and responsibilities of the system to monitor, inspect, evaluate and approve member homes;

(7) The system's right to remove a child from the home and the conditions under which a child may be removed;

(8) That the home shall not accept a child from any source other than the system responsible for the home without the prior approval of the system;

(9) Conditions under which the provider may take children away from the member home on a routine basis (In an unusual situation, the provider shall notify the system by telephone and secure system approval before taking a child out of the home.); and

(10) That the home shall release a child only to the persons specified in the child care agreement required by 8VAC20-810-50 A 5.

b. This agreement shall be signed prior to referral of children to the home.

B. Approval, monitoring and termination.

1. Approval, criteria and requirements. The system shall develop criteria and requirements that family day-care homes must meet to be approved as members of the system. At minimum these criteria and requirements shall address the following areas:

a. Qualifications of day-care providers and their staff that include establishing specific educational or experience requirements, or both, to assure that both providers and their staff are capable of providing acceptable care to children placed in the member home. At minimum the following basic qualifications must be met:

(1) A family day-care provider must be at least 18 years of age;

(2) A family day-care must be able to read and write;

(3) A family day-care assistant must be at least 14 years of age;

(4) Family day-care providers and any assistant or assistants must have the following personal attributes:

(a) An understanding of children and their problems together with an ability to relate to children with courtesy, respect, patience and affection, and understanding and respect for the child's family;

(b) An ability to handle emergencies with dependability and good judgment; and

(c) A motivation to contribute to children's wholesome development;

(5) Family day-care providers and any assistant or assistants shall be responsible, wholesome, emotionally stable people of good character and reputation;

(6) No person convicted of a crime involving child abuse, child neglect or moral turpitude shall be a family day-care provider or assistant.

b. Ratio of adults to children in care. Ratios shall be based at minimum on the number, ages and needs of children in care. The system shall require at least one adult for every eight children in care, and infants below the age of two years shall be counted as two children in determining staff requirements.

c. The physical environment which includes:

(1) Physical plant requirements (building and grounds) and requirements for maintenance and cleanliness;

(2) Furnishing and equipment appropriate to the ages of children in care;

(3) Toileting and bathing facilities;

(4) Lighting requirements;

(5) Absence of safety hazard; and

(6) Adequate space requirements for play activities and napping.

d. The water supply and sanitary disposal system shall be approved by the health officer, unless water is obtained from a municipal supply and the member home is connected to a municipal sewer line.

e. Care of children including at minimum supervision of children in care and the planning and providing of varied daily activities which are appropriate to the ages, needs, and capabilities of children in care. Children must be supervised at all times by an adult and shall not be left alone in the care of an assistant under the age of 18 years.

f. Methods of dealing with unacceptable behavior which prohibit harsh and unreasonable punishment.

g. Nutrition to assure that nutritious and adequate meals and snacks, in terms of quality and quantity, are provided each child.

h. Health information shall be maintained for the family day-care provider, assistant and assistants and for those household members who come in contact with children or handle food served to children, as described below:

(1) Initial tuberculosis examination and report.

(a) Prior to approval or contact with children, each individual shall obtain an evaluation indicating the absence of tuberculosis in a communicable form.

(b) Each individual shall submit a statement that he or she is free of tuberculosis in a communicable form, including the type or types of test or tests used and the result or results.

(c) The statement shall be signed by a licensed physician, the physician's designee, or an official of a local health department.

(d) The statement shall be filed in the individual's record.

(2) Subsequent evaluations.

(a) An individual who had a significant (positive) reaction to a tuberculin skin test and whose physician certifies the absence of communicable tuberculosis must obtain chest x-rays on an annual basis for the following two years.

(i) The individual shall submit statements documenting the chest x-rays and certifying freedom from tuberculosis in a communicable form.

(ii) The statements shall be signed by a licensed physician, the physician's designee, or an official of a local health department.

(iii) The statement shall be filed in the individual's record.

(iv) Screening beyond two years is not required unless there is known contact with a case of tuberculosis or development of chronic respiratory symptoms.

(b) Additional screening is not required for an individual who had a non-significant (negative) reaction to an initial tuberculin skin test.

(c) Any individual who comes in contact with a known case of tuberculosis or who develops chronic respiratory symptoms shall, within 30 days or exposure or development, receive an evaluation in accordance with subdivision B 1 h (1) of this section.

(3) At the request of the licensed system or the Department of Education, a report of examination by a licensed physician shall be obtained when there are indications that the safety of children in care may be jeopardized by the physical or mental health of a specific individual.

(4) Any individual who, upon examination or as a result of tests, shows indication of a physical or mental condition which may jeopardize the safety of children in care:

(a) Shall immediately be removed from contact with children;

(b) Shall immediately be removed from contact with food served to children; and

(c) Shall not be allowed contact with children or food served to children until the conditions cleared to the satisfaction of the examining physician as evidenced by a signed statement from the physician.

i. Fire safety to include appropriate emergency plans for evacuation of the home. The member home shall comply with any limitations which may be placed by the Virginia Fire Safety Regulations on the maximum number of children who may be in care.

j. Record keeping to include the records to be maintained in the home on each child and the content and format of each record.

k. Each member home shall have a working telephone on the premises with a listed number. The phone number for a doctor who may be called in an emergency, an ambulance service or rescue squad, the fire department and the police shall be posted near the phone.

2. Approval determination.

a. Prior to approval of any home as a member of the system, the system shall determine that the home complies with the written criteria and requirements established by the system in accordance with subdivision B 1 of this section.

b. This determination of compliance shall be documented by a compliance investigation addressing, at minimum, the areas identified under subdivision B 1 of this section and an evaluation of all information provided as part of the application process.

c. The study shall also contain the following documentation:

(1) Health reports required by subdivision B 1 h of this section;

(2) Reports of at least three character references for the day-care provider and each member of the staff (These references shall be in writing or there shall be a written notation of verbal references.);

(3) A written record of previous training and experience of the day-care provider, if any; and

(4) Information to show how capacity was determined, including evaluation of any unusual conditions.

d. This study shall include interviews with all adult members of the household and at least two interviews with the day-care applicant or provider, one of which shall take place in the home where care will be provided to children.

3. Approval notification.

a. Within 30 days following the completion of the interviews required by subdivision B 2 d of this section, the system shall provide written notification to the applicant home of the results of the study, to include corrective action required.

b. If the home is approved, the notification to the provider shall include the capacity of the home. In no case shall the capacity exceed nine children, including children under six who are related by blood or marriage to the day-care provider.

c. If the day-care provider has responsibility for a handicapped person who requires special attention or services, this factor shall be considered in determining the approved capacity of the member home and the record of the home shall contain documentation of this evaluation.

d. If the home is approved, this notification shall be accompanied by an approval certificate which shall be posted in a place that is conspicuous to the public in each approved home.

4. Termination.

a. The system shall have written policies for suspension or termination of a member home.

b. The system shall notify the provider in writing of the reasons for suspension or termination within two weeks of such suspension or termination.

5. Annual approval. Each member home shall be approved annually. The same approval process shall be used as described in subdivisions B 1 through 3.

6. Monitoring.

a. Each member home shall be visited at least quarterly in order to assure that the home continues to comply with the system's standards.

(1) At least two of these visits shall be unannounced;

(2) The results of these visits shall be documented in the home's record.

b. The department, at any time, may make an announced or unannounced visit to a home that is a member of the system in order to assure continued compliance with the applicable provisions of this chapter. The results of such visits shall be provided to the system.

7. Annually the system shall provide the Office of Child Care Licensing a current directory of approved homes that are members of the system.

a. The initial directory shall be provided 30 days after the system's initial license to operate is issued.

b. An updated directory shall be provided with the system's application for license renewal.

c. The directory shall contain at minimum the following information:

(1) The name of the day-care provider;

(2) The address of the member home;

(3) The telephone number of the member home; and

(4) The approved capacity of the member home.

8. Copies of the notification of member home approval and termination, required by subdivisions B 3 a and B 4 b of this section, shall also be provided by the system to the Office of Child Care Licensing.

C. Training.

1. The licensee shall have on file at the system office separate written plans describing initial and on-going training of each provider. Each plan shall describe such training in detail and shall include a description of training topic covered, training materials used, frequency and duration of training sessions, persons and resources utilized within the system and from the community to implement training, names of trainers, training methodology, and the process used to evaluate the training program by both staff and providers.

2. Initial training.

a. Prior to acceptance or within the first six months after acceptance as a member home, the system shall provide initial training for each day-care provider.

b. Such training shall include at minimum a two-hour training session on each of the following areas, unless the system develops a method to certify equivalent competency in these subject areas. Such methods shall be subject to review and approval by the department.

(1) An orientation to the system;

(2) Organizing for family day care;

(3) Child growth and development;

(4) Health care;

(5) First aid, home safety and fire safety;

(6) Nutrition;

(7) Child abuse and protection;

(8) Appropriate activities and toys for mixed age groups of children;

(9) Dealing with unacceptable behavior;

(10) Community resources;

(11) Parent and day-care provider relationships.

c. The licensee shall describe and document the content and hours of training received by each provider or the equivalent competency, or both. This documentation shall be kept on file at the system office as part of the day-care provider required by 8VAC20-810-60 C 2.

3. On-going training.

a. Within each succeeding year, following the completion of initial training, the licensee shall provide at least two hours of on-going, in-service training to providers each quarter.

b. The content of this training shall be determined by the system and shall be based on the needs of approved day-care providers. At minimum, it shall reinforce or expand on the areas identified in subdivision C 2 b of this section.

c. The licensee shall describe and document the content and hours of training received by each provider and shall keep this documentation on file at the system office as part of the day-care provider record required by 8VAC20-810-60 C 2.

4. A provider who refuses to participate in training shall be terminated as a member home.

D. Technical assistance and consultation.

1. The system has the responsibility to provide technical assistance and consultation to member homes.

2. Technical assistance and consultation include, but shall not be limited to, the following areas:

a. Provision of information and advice on child development, methods of dealing with unacceptable behavior, fire safety, working with exceptional children, dealing with stress or crisis, etc.;

b. Loans of toys and equipment, if available;

c. Provision of information on training resources available in the community on an on-going basis and as appropriate; and

d. Nutrition and menu planning on an on-going basis.

3. Technical assistance and consultation provided to member homes shall be recorded in the day-care provider record required by 8VAC20-810-60 C 2 e (5).