Recently, KDHE went around to local county health departments to update childcare providers about the
proposed changes to the regulations. Part of Lexie’s Law is that KDHE needed to come up with changes to the regulations about supervision. These are the
proposed regulations. Please note that they are
not official yet. Every childcare provider has the opportunity to comment or attend the hearing about these proposed regulations. Comments will be allowed sometime after February 14
th, 2011. I will update everyone as soon as comments are allowed. *I wrote this post based on the meeting I attended on December 15
th. The information was in a PowerPoint, so I’ve done my best to put the points into sentences and organize it the best I can. This information is how I understood it at the meeting. I wrote everything down the best I could while I was at the meeting. If you have questions and leave a comment, I will do my best to answer them.You can see proposed regulations now
here.
Proposed New Regulations:
K.A.R. 28-4-114 Definitions: KDHE wants to tighten up the language on some of the definitions to make sure everyone fully understands the language in the regulation. (These new definitions are important to later changes I will write about.)
Care provider: An individual who is 16 or older, cares for, and supervises children in a facility.
They are going to remove the definition of a kindergarten age child. This means that we will now be able to have children 5 and up as school-age children.
They are also going to add a definition for professional development.
K.A.R. 28-4-114 (licensing tables)
*KDHE seeks to change the licensing tables to 18months-5 years and 5-11yrs would be considered school-age children.
*They are going to incorporate the exceptions (such as being able to overlap on kids over the lunch hour) into the regulation so that providers don’t have to post exceptions any longer.
K.A.R. 28-4-114a Initial and Ongoing Professional Development
*All new providers will have to complete orientation before getting a license.
*All care providers (who will have sole responsibility for care and supervision—this means all substitutes) will have to meet the health and safety training requirements.
^^^New applicants and care providers will have 30 days to meet the requirements.
^^^^^Current providers will have up to 1 year from the date the regulation goes into effect.
This means that my substitute and I will have 1 year to meet the health and safety requirements. Since I have most of these already, I would just have to make sure my substitute completed the requirements.
Health and Safety Requirements:
-Signs of Child Abuse & Neglect
-Basic Child Development
-Safe Sleep/SIDS
-Pediatric First Aid/CPR—these certifications will have to be kept current.
*The requirement for the initial 15 hours of training with the subsequent 5 hours/year for renewal will not change. However, they want to eliminate the option of reading books and watching videos.
K.A.R. 28-4-115 The facility (home)
*Expand section on safety gates to prevent unsupervised access to stairways (children under 2 ½ years)
*Guns & weapons now must be kept in locked storage. (Current regulation requires locked or trigger lock.)
*Outdoor play area needs to have ground cover that meets the regulations set by the manufacturer. Any toy over 4 feet tall needs to have ground cover.
K.A.R. 28-4-115a Supervision
*KDHE wants providers to come up with a plan for competent supervision. Providers should have and follow a written facility plan. This should include a description of the areas (indoors & outdoors).
---Include the following:
~~~How supervision is provided.
~~~Any arrangements for evening or overnight care.
~~~The plan should be discussed with parents and updated as needed.
Supervision Regulations:
---Know the location of each child and the activities he/she is engaged in
---Interact and attend to needs
---Respond immediately
---Respond to crying/distress
---Changes in activity/noise level
---Be able to respond in an emergency
Children under 2 (who are inside and awake):
Provider needs to be within sight/hearing of children.
When attending to other duties, ensure the safety of the children first, be able to respond immediately, and remain within hearing distance.
Children 2 and older:
Under certain conditions, children may be permitted to go unattended to another room (if the provider can trust the child to be alone).
```Doors between rooms should be open.
```Within hearing distance.
```Conduct visual checks.
```Children ages 2-5 should stay on the same floor as the provider.
Outdoor:
Provider must be outside with the children if they are less than 5 years. If children are 5 or older, they can be outside if they are independent.
Evening/Overnight:
Provider must be awake the entire time.
*If a provider is not providing a regular service, there are exceptions (but the children cannot be enrolled in your daycare for these exceptions).
~~~Can be no more than 7 evenings/nights in a calendar year.
~~~Cannot include more than 1 sibling group
If a provider offers this service, a plan should be developed with parents.
***This proposed regulation caused problems with the providers. The KDHE representative said that any daycare child would not be able to stay overnight at a provider’s house without the provider being awake the entire time. This causes issues because it is restrictive. Some older children may have friends who are daycare children, so this regulation means that friends (who are in the provider’s daycare) would not be able to stay overnight.
Example: Johnny is 7 years old and in my daycare. He is best friends with my 7-year-old, Cooper. According to this new regulation, I would not be able to sleep while Johnny was at my house because KDHE considers Johnny to be in the care of his childcare provider. I’m not getting paid to watch Johnny tonight; he’s over at my house to be with his friend. However, KDHE considers him to be in my care regardless of if I am getting paid or not.
K.A.R. 28-4-116 Daily Care
*KDHE wants to expand the regulation to focus more on indoor/outdoor activities to promote healthy growth and development.
They want to:
~Limit “screen time”
~Update nutrition and food service (they want to make sure we’re serving healthy meals, such as what is regulated with a food program)
^This would include a regulation that says water should always be available.
^This would also include a regulation promoting low fat milk.
K.A.R. (I'm unsure of the regulation # on this one) Education and Training
Providers will need to be trained in Safe Sleep practices and crib safety.
```I wrote this post based on the meeting I attended on December 15th. The information was in a PowerPoint, so I’ve done my best to put the points into sentences and organize it the best I can.
Next Steps:
The proposed regulations are currently being reviewed by the Department of Administration and the Attorney General’s office.
KDHE will publish a notice of hearing sometime between 2-14-11 and 3-11-11. After the notice is published, providers may comment. I will let everyone know as soon as I do when comments can be sent to KDHE about these proposed regulations.
Providers will have around 61 days to make comments before a hearing is held. Providers may attend the hearing or send in comments before the hearing. KDHE does have to consider every comment/person at hearing, so please let your voices be heard. They want you to comment.
For commenting, they would like to know:
--What you like
--What you’d like changed
Be specific and provide an alternative if you would like something changed.
If you have questions about this information I have provided and leave a comment, I will do my best to answer them.
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