Licensing

Licensing regulations are set by each individual state.  Programs that are licensed must meet the State’s minimum standards. Each state defines which types of child care arrangements must be licensed.

Licensed child care providers are required to comply with health and safety standards that include training, staff to child ratios, supervision requirements, fire safety, and background checks.  Licensed providers are also subject to unannounced on-site inspections at least once a year. 

Not all child care programs are required to be licensed.  When a program is not state licensed, they are not held to the same health and safety requirements required of licensed programs and do not have unannounced inspection visits by the Office of Early Childhood

Visit the Office of Early Childhood Division of Licensing for more information;

Family Child Care Statutes and Regulations

Child Day Care Center Statutes and Regulations

Office of Early Childhood Division of Licensing is responsible for licensing child care programs.

  • Visits and inspects programs on a regular basis
    • Child Care Centers and Group Child Care Homes – The Office of Early Childhood is mandated by state law to inspect all licensed child care facilities every year.
  • Conducts unannounced inspections
    • These visits are generally unannounced and documented on an inspection report form
  • Child Care Centers and Group Child Care Homes are required to post the most recent inspection report. They must also make the report available to parents upon request.
  • Family Child Care Homes are required to make a copy of the last inspection report available to parents upon request.
  • Investigates complaints
    • State statutes indicate that any person having reasonable cause to believe that a family day care home, child day care center or group day care home is operating without a current and valid license or in violation of the regulations or in a manner which may pose a potential danger to the health, welfare and safety of a child receiving child day care services, may report such information to the department.  Complaints may be filed by contacting the Office of Early Childhood Division of Licensing (Contact Info) A series of questions will be asked to gather information that will assist the department in conducting a thorough investigation.
  • Conducts background checks on staff and family child care providers (and household members for family child care.)
    • The Commissioner of Early Childhood may refuse to license child care centers, group child care homes or family child care homes based on a conviction of a felony or on a criminal record. For more details, please click below.
    • List of crimes that make a provider ineligible

Licensing status and complaint history of providers is accessible on-line. The system allows the public to conduct on-line searches for child care providers.

Click here to find the following information on the State of Connecticut eLicensing Website

  • License Number
  • License Type
  • License Status
  • License Issue Date
  • Total Capacity
  • Date of Last Inspection
  • Substantiated Complaint/Incident History
    • Type of violation
    • Resolution action
    • Quality Enhancement History

Regulatory Action Reports

The Regulatory Action Report is a compilation of disciplinary actions taken against licensed child care providers by the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood. The report is posted on a quarterly basis.   Disciplinary actions taken against providers can also be found by searching for the provider on the Connecticut eLicensing website. Simply type in the name of the child care facility or the provider in the search fields and click on “Search.”

Click here to view these reports

 

 

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