What it takes to be a licensed provider

Early Childhood Corner
By Marisa K. Kunnemann
Imperial Republican Correspondent

Have you ever wondered what takes to be a licensed child care provider? Being a child care provider is more than just ‘babysitting’ children. There are many aspects of our license that others don’t even think about. I will explain what it takes to be licensed and some of the organizations that support us in our business.
In order to be licensed we agree to follow the regulations for our facility license.
 Some of the things we must comply by are providing a safe and nurturing environment, meeting child to staff ratios, keeping child and employee records, having a Handbook and Policies and completing a minimum number of training hours including specific required trainings. Required trainings include seven domains of Early Learning Guidelines, Safe With You: Power to Protect, Safe With You: ABCs of Safe Sleep/Never Shake a Child, Management Training Program (Centers), Getting Down to Business (FCCHs), and CPR/First Aid. Some of our training must also be in the area of nutrition and safety. If you accept Subsidy, they require specific training to be met as well. We must pass repeated background checks and are fingerprinted.
Family Child Care Homes are subject to one unannounced inspection from DHHS each year to assess compliance with licensing. The preschool and child care centers are subject to a minimum of two unannounced inspections each year to assess compliance. Inspections by DHHS include a walk-through of the facility, checking child and staff records, child immunizations, first aid/med kits, storage of cleaning supplies, and verifying training.  Additional inspections may be conducted throughout the year to follow up on complaints or previous violations in compliance. Centers have a fire and a sanitation inspection every two years. Preschools have a fire inspection every two years. If we accept Subsidy, our contract is renewed every year with an on-site visit.  FCCHs that participate in the Food Program are visited 3 times a year, usually during snack or meal time. Most visits and inspections are unannounced. It is difficult for a Center in rural Nebraska to qualify for the food program.
There are a lot of organizations that support Early Childhood. Many of these also have resources to support parents.
Child Care Subsidy pays providers tuition to help families with the cost of child care. Information to assist with applying can be found at https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Child-Care-Subsidy.aspx.
The Nebraska Department of Education Office of Early Childhood website at
https://www.education.ne.gov/oec/ has an abundance of information and links to other websites with information. This is a great site for Child Care Providers as well as parents. Providers can access links to training and resources. Parents can find links to other websites that have information on finding child care, school readiness, and child development as well as links to child subsidy.
One of these resources is the Nebraska Early Learning Library. I have requested many books or videos that I have used for training or to explore a resource before I purchase it for my own library. This is available for parents, too. You can check out a resource, they mail it to you and you mail it back by the due date.
Step Up to Quality , Nebraska’s Quality Rating Improvement System, is a program that helps families identify early childhood providers who demonstrate a commitment to quality care. These programs go beyond what is required because they strive to do better for their children’s and families’ futures. NECPRS, Nebraska Early Childhood Professional Record System, is where providers can submit our training. This makes keeping track of our training easy to access. Some training is automatically recorded to our record. Others we can submit for approval. If training doesn’t come from a state approved source, we can complete an Independent Study. This site has a link for parents to find providers that participate in Step Up to Quality or have a NECPRS account. Sue Knobbe is rated a Step 1 and Marisa’s Playhouse is a Step 5. You can explore the Step Up to Quality website at https://stepuptoquality.ne.gov/. You can also search for providers by searching Child Care Roster on the dhhs.ne.gov website. This lists all licensed facilities in Nebraska by zip code.
Nebraska Early Childhood Collaborative is another organization that provides information and training opportunities. They also have information for parents. You can check them out at nebraskaearly.org.
Nebraska Early Learning Connection is an integrated system of early childhood professional development. The ELC consists of a statewide hub at the Nebraska Department of Education’s Early Childhood Training Center and seven regional Early Learning Connection partnerships. Our region is the High Plains Partnership and coordinates trainings for us.
If you have something that you would like information on, please let us know.