Lexie's Law
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
UPDATE: Please note the changes from what I had originally posted. I'll make the changes this font color. These changes come after speaking with Brenda Landwehr, a state representative. As of now, Lexie's Law still has not been signed into law by the Governor. I doubt that it will take much longer though. Also, I created a second post with new information about when inspections will start. Find it here.
This bill should be in effect soon. This is what I’ve found out about the bill and what it will change for current and future providers.
Homes: Registered homes will no longer exist. All registered providers will be converted to licensed homes.
Inspections: Future providers will be inspected initially. Current providers will be inspected on a risk-based system. (This means that homes judged to be the riskiest will be inspected more often than those who always are in compliance.)
Supervision: The state wants to establish supervision standards for caring for children 5 and under. Basically, they want to make sure that providers are within seeing or hearing distance. The biggest mandate is supervising sleeping children. With this bill, providers must check on sleeping children periodically—not just babies but toddlers too. (Note: Really note this changes--seeing OR hearing distance and periodically [no more 15min rule])
Parent Access: KDHE will be asked to come up with an online system that lists safety information and inspection violations. KDHE does not present this system until February 2011 to the State, so parents will not have access to this information for awhile.
Education Requirements: All current providers are “grandfathered” in, but all future providers must have at least a high school diploma or GED.
Ground for Revoking Licenses: Licenses would be revoked if a provider had repeatedly violated the regulations or contributed to the death or serious bodily harm of a child while in care.
Fire Extinguishers: All homes must have a fire extinguisher that is serviced and easily accessible.
Fees: Fees would increase to $75 plus $1 times the maximum number of children–$85 for licensed homes;Late fees would cost 100% the original fee.
Current Registered Homes: All Registered daycares would operate as Registered homes until the providers had met all requirements to become licensed.
Other Changes: Providers’ licenses would require an expiration sticker.
Child Capacities: The bill does not change the number of children a provider can care for; Licensed homes are still capped at 10.
Licensing Hours: Current providers with Registered daycare homes will have 1 year to meet the 15 hour training requirements.
For more information, see these links:
http://cjonline.com/news/legislature/2010-05-08/daycare_bill_passes_senate
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/2010ConfCommRpts/Ccrb2356_001_01.pdf
Thanks Dayna for bringing this to my attention.
*Please comment if you have questions/concerns about the bill . This is what I was told by Brenda Landwehr.
Posts
So why would they have licenced and family daycare homes?? Why wouldnt they just have everyone licenced and capped at 10. I dont understand if they would treat us as a licensed facility why the number of children wouldnt increase from 6 to 10???
Anon,
I asked myself that same question. I had assumed that everyone would just have to be licensed now and be able to have the max 10 kids. But, my research says that the Family Daycare Homes only get 6 kids. The only difference between Licensed and Family Daycare that I can see right now is that I have to have 15 hours of training and am allowed 10 kids.
I understand your frustration because I know why they want stricter regulations, but I really don't understand some of these changes. This is why I wanted to get this information out to providers in Kansas though. I think we all need to know what is going on, and I hope that KDHE will send out a letter to all providers.
I don't think these changes will really reduce or eliminate problems in daycares, its just more hassel for providers. We don't make that much money providing care to children yet we have so many hoops to jump thru....
I heard that we will have to be in the same room with the children at all time. I think that rule would be pretty much impossible to do. ANd Unrealistic. I just want to take care of these children. We already have so many crazy rules. I watch my children. I keep them safe. THere is already a shortage of providers as it is. I 'm sure there will be less after its all said and done with. There is so much paperwork, tax prep food program prep...etc. We dont get paid nearly enough. Why add one more reason to not do this job.....Providers just want to take care of these kids without having to jump thru hoops all the time.
I agree with everything that has been said. I just keep telling myself that I already watch the kids well, so this won't effect me too much. As to being in the same room with the kids all the time, here is the exact wording:
Supervision of children under age 5
HB 2356 would establish that providers should follow these basic supervision standards when caring for children under the age of 5:
• Watch and direct activities of children under the age of 5, and respond immediately to emergencies and the needs of children.
• Provide direct visual supervision of children under age 5 except when attending to the needs of other children, attending to personal needs, or taking care of other provider-related duties.
• Check on the safety of children prior to attending to personal needs or other duties in the home, and be able to respond to any child in distress.
Supervision of sleeping/napping children
HB 2356 would call for child care providers with children under the age of 5 in their care to:
• Be within visual or hearing distance of children that are napping in the home.
• Visually check on sleeping children every 15 minutes to ensure their safety.
(This information is from Kansas Action for Children)
I just spoke to Brenda Landwehr State rep and she said everyone would be capped at 10. There is no category of family daycare home and everyone will be licensed.
Anon (May 17),
Thanks for this comment. I put in a call to Brenda Landwehr as well, so I'll update this as soon as she gets back to me. I also want to know the date this goes into effect and make sure I'm correct on all the changes.
She told me that they have until July 2011 to make all registered homes licensed. They start this process starting July 1, 2010. She said you can make a call to Nancy Jensen who is the local surveyor if you want to be one of the first to be inspected so you can take on more kids sooner. I thought they would do inspections by alphabetical order, but she didn't seem to think so.
I would also like to know if providers will be sent some sort of information sheet about the new laws and if we will be notified when our inspection will take place.
I am waiting for Brenda Landwehr and Nancy Jensen to contact me back. I asked Nancy about being notified about inspections, so we'll see what she says.
Nancy is out for the week. I talked to another surveyor and she said she didn't know if we will be notified. On one side we may not be notified because we already have children in our care. On the other side, we may be notified because licensed providers when they first start are notified of when they will be inspected and she said if we aren't notified then that may cause more work for them
Ok, I have great information from Brenda Landwehr. I will post it asap, but nap time is over in 9 min. I'll get to it soon. Maybe Nancy will get my email and respond, but we might have to wait until next week.
Did you find out if we will be notified about our first inspection?
I have not found out about inspections yet because Nancy Jensen is out this week, and all KDHE will tell me is that the law is not official yet. See the changes on this post and my homepage for the most current information.
If you are in compliance with ALL regulations they should be able to inspect at ANY time. My guess is they will not give any notice as to when your inspection will be if you are already registered. That is the point...making sure the daycare home is always in compliance, not just on inspection day!
I'm concern AFSCME Union guys will start knocking on our doors again after the KDHE website goes up with providers' names, addresses, phones listed. Remember when they did this to us before when SRS gave them our information? Worst, who knows who else will show up at our doors while we are caring for the kids?
When will the website start?
Anonymous #15,
It will be interesting to see if they do give notice or not. Providers with only the initial temporary licenses are supposed to be in compliance with ALL regulations, and they are given notice. I think this is why others are concerned with wanting notice. I will let everyone know as soon as I can if Nancy Jensen or anyone at KDHE can tell me about inspections. If they do not give notice, then Registered providers need to make sure they are in compliance totally. This is why I will post a checklist in part 3 of this series I'm doing.
Anonymous #16,
Brenda Landwehr said that she and others were concerned as well with the online public access system. They gave KDHE until February to come up with a system that will not give out too much personal information. Landwehr told me that Oklahoma has a good system, so they're looking into one like theirs. However, she said they gave KDHE so long in order to find the best system.
Registered providers, please be aware and ready for the fact that they might not give notice of inspections. I can think of reasons for and against why they would give you notice. However, they do not give notice if you convert from Registered to Licensed under the current system.
I wanted to make sure of the paperwork we have for each child. We need a signed contract on file, Authorization for medical care, contact list, and medical record for all children. Am I correct in saying that that is all the paperwork we need for each child.
Comment #20,
Yes, I believe that is all the paperwork.
The medical record form, immunization records, child health assessment, and authorization for emergency medical care forms are all required.
*Make sure that you have a complete contact list of emergency contacts/people authorized to pick up. This needs to have names, addresses, and phone numbers. The inspector will check for this information.
***For the Emergency Medical Care form, make sure you fill in the end dates with "until no longer needed" or something to that effect. My inspector told me this because you'll have to send the form home every year if you have an end date as a year later. If you have an "expired" emergency medical form when inspections come, you'll get a violation.
Also, make sure that your vaccinations are current on your own kids and the ones in care. Hepatitis A is now required, but your kids might not have gotten it since it wasn't required before last year. I had several who had to go get the Hep A shot.
I have been a registered day care for 17 years. However I as many of us have never been inspected. I really don't know what to expect. Will we recieve any guide lines before inspection?
Comment #22,
I will add this question to my list of questions to ask Nancy Jensen, my local contact. I assume that a lot of Registered providers have been in business for a long time and don't know what to expect, so I'll keep posting as much as I know about inspections.
Since the state has only told me that they are starting to put together a packet, I don't if they will send out anything about guidelines. There is a self-check list for providers to use as they evaluate their houses. http://kdheks.gov/bcclr/application_packets_and_forms/child_care/CCL_204_Providers_Self-Evaluation_Checklist.pdf
Use this form as a guideline because my inspector pulled out one similar as she did my inspection. Since this won't let me link you to the page in the comment section, I'll post on the homepage about this checklist.
I just received my daycare registration(approx. 4 weeks ago) that expires July 31, 2011. Will I have until next June/July to become licensed?
Anonymous #24,
You will not necessarily have until next June/July to get licensed. Governor Parkinson signed the bill last Friday and inspections start July 1st. Your local area has until July 31st 2011 to get your inspection completed, but it will likely be before that. However, you will have a whole year to meet the 15 hour training requirements.
I was licensed for one year and then i went to being registered so I already have the inservise hours that they reccomand us to have do you know if i am going to have to do those hours again
Anonymous#26,
The person I spoke to says that you should not have to meet the 15 hour requirements again if you already were licensed at one time. After the initial 15 hours, you have to get 5 hours of training per year.
Sorry that it took me so long to get back to you. I tried to get ahold of my local office all afternoon, but I couldn't. So, I finally called another office.
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/local_news/special_reports/child-care-union-suprises-some-providers
Check out NBC News about CCPT/AFSCME Union. What will a union do for self-employed business woman, like family child care providers? Give you free training and grants with your own tax money? Watch up providers, the union just wants you to sign-up @ $300.00 a year membership dues. Pay for your own training as a business expense.
Did 'Kansas Action for Children' mention they received funding from AFSCME union? Who really wrote most of SB447/HB2356? Take a look at the other states' child care laws where AFSCME union is already at.
Why did SRS give $1.5 Million dollars to AFSCME Union? Couldn't that money have gone to all the children's programs that have been cut?