5.5 Monitoring and Enforcement of Licensing and Health and Safety Requirements

5.5.1 Inspections for licensed CCDF providers Licensing inspectors must perform at least one annual, unannounced inspection of each licensed CCDF provider for compliance with all child care licensing standards, including an inspection for compliance with health and safety and fire standards. Lead Agencies must conduct at least one pre-licensure inspection for compliance with health, safety, and fire standards of each child care provider and facility in the State/Territory. a. Licensed CCDF center-based providers i. Does your pre-licensure inspection for licensed center-based providers assess compliance with health standards, safety standards, and fire standards? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: ii. Identify the frequency of annual unannounced inspections for licensed center- based providers addressing compliance with health, safety, and fire standards: [x] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [ ] Other. If other, describe: iii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring licensed center-based providers? [x] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. All licensed child care centers are inspected no less frequently than annually. Programs recommended for a negative licensing action are inspected no less frequently than monthly. During the full unannounced supervisory inspection, the licensing specialist will inspect the entire physical premises, both indoors and outdoors, of the facility to assess compliance with rules and regulations governing its facility type. The licensing specialist will also review all policies and procedures, children records, and staff records, including training certificates for the required CCDF training in Safe Sleep, Prevention of Abusive Head Trauma, Medication Administration, Prevention and Response to Food Allergies, building and physical premises safety, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Handling and Storage of Hazardous Materials, Precautions in transporting children, First Aid and CPR and background checks in compliance with CCDF. Other records required for the facility type will be reviewed for compliance with rules and regulations including current, approving fire and health department inspections. All violations will be documented on a Report of Inspection reviewed with the facility. The time frame for corrections of violations will be noted on the Report of Inspection. The licensee is provided a copy of the Report of Inspection and must complete a written plan of compliance. Only child care centers operated by a public school district that is in good standing with the Department are eligible for differential monitoring. The program must first complete a full supervisory inspection as described above. Once full compliance is verified, annually, the licensing specialist will inspect the entire physical premises, both indoors and outdoors, of the facility to assess compliance with rules and regulations governing the facility type. The licensing specialist will ensure staff is compliant with CCDF required background checks, meets qualifications including completion of all CCDF required training, and that the program is compliant with all CCDF health and safety standards. Every three years, another full supervisory inspection is completed to ensure compliance with all standards, CCDF required and non-CCDF required. [ ] No. If no, describe: iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed center-based providers. Licensing Specialists at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, Division of Early Learning Licensing and Administration are responsible for conducting the inspections for licensed center- based providers. For additional workforce capacity, the Department contracts some services out with county departments of human services, the county department of health, and other publicly or privately operated organizations that have a declared interest in children and experience working with children or on behalf of children. When contracting for investigations and inspections, CDEC ensures that the contracted employees are equally qualified by training and experience and have no conflict of interest with respect to the facilities to be inspected. All licensing specialists, including those under contract, follow the same operating procedures and are trained by the Department on the implementation of the licensing program. b. Licensed CCDF family child care providers i. Does your pre-licensure inspection for licensed family child care homes assess compliance with health standards, safety standards, and fire standards? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: ii. Identify the frequency of annual unannounced inspections for licensed family child care homes addressing compliance with health, safety, and fire standards: [x] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [ ] Other. If other, describe: iii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring licensed family child care providers? [ ] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. [x] No. If no, describe: All licensed family child care homes are inspected no less frequently than annually. The licensing specialist will conduct an inspection of the entire physical premises, both indoors and outdoors, of the facility to assess compliance with rules and regulations governing the facility type. The licensing specialist will also review all policies and procedures, children records, staff records including training certificates for the required CCDF training in Safe Sleep, Prevention of Abusive Head Trauma, Medication Administration, Prevention and Response to Food Allergies, Building and Physical Premises Safety, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Handling and Storage of Hazardous Materials, Precautions in transporting children, First Aid and CPR and background checks in compliance with CCDF. Other records required for the facility type will be reviewed for compliance with rules and regulations including current, approving fire and health department inspections. All violations will be documented on a Report of Inspection reviewed with the facility. The time frame for corrections of violations will be noted on the Report of Inspection. The licensee is provided a copy of the Report of Inspection and must complete a written plan of compliance. iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed family child care providers. Licensing Specialists at CDEC, Division of Early Learning Licensing and Administration are responsible for conducting the inspections for licensed center-based providers. For additional workforce capacity, the Department contracts some services out with county departments of human services, the county department of health, and other publicly or privately operated organizations that have a declared interest in children and experience working with children or on behalf of children. When contracting for investigations and inspections, CDEC ensures that the contracted employees are equally qualified by training and experience and have no conflict of interest with respect to the facilities to be inspected. All licensing specialists, including those under contract, follow the same operating procedures and are trained by the Department on the implementation of the licensing program. c. Licensed in-home CCDF child care providers i. Does your Lead Agency license CCDF in-home child care (care in the child’s own home) providers? [x] No. [ ] Yes. If yes, does your pre-licensure inspection for licensed in-home providers assess compliance with health, safety, and fire standards? [ ] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: ii. Identify the frequency of annual unannounced inspections for licensed in-home child care providers for compliance with health, safety, and fire standards completed: [ ] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [x] Other. If other, describe: N/A iii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring licensed in-home child care providers? [ ] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. [x] No. iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed in-home providers. N/A 5.5.2 Inspections for license-exempt providers Licensing inspectors must perform at least one annual monitoring visit of each license-exempt CCDF provider for compliance with health, safety, and fire standards. Inspections for relative providers will be addressed in subsection 5.8. Describe the policies and practices for the annual monitoring of: a. License-exempt CCDF center-based child care providers i. Identify the frequency of inspections for compliance with health, safety, and fire standards for license-exempt center-based providers: [ ] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [x] Other. If other, describe: N/A ii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring license-exempt center-based providers? [ ] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. [x] No. iii. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for license-exempt center-based CCDF providers. N/A b. License-exempt CCDF family child care providers i. Identify the frequency of the inspections of license-exempt family child care providers to determine compliance with health, safety, and fire standards: [x] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [ ] Other. If other, describe: ii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring license-exempt family child care providers? [ ] Yes. If yes, describe how the differential monitoring approach is representative of the full complement of health and safety requirements. [x] No. iii. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for license-exempt family child care providers. Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) 5.5.3 Inspections for CCDF license-exempt in-home child care providers Lead Agencies may develop alternate monitoring requirements for care provided in the child’s home that are appropriate to the setting. This flexibility cannot be used to bypass the monitoring requirement altogether. a. Describe the requirements for the annual monitoring of CCDF license-exempt in-home child care (care in the child’s own home) providers, including if monitoring is announced or unannounced, occurs more frequently than once per year, and if differential monitoring procedures are used. Non-relative CCCAP Qualified Exempt providers are required to have an annual on-site health and safety inspection if care is provided in the child’s home. 3.127 (B)(7)(b) 8 CCR 1403-1. b. List the entity(ies) in your State/Territory responsible for conducting inspections of license-exempt CCDF in-home child care (care in the child’s own home) providers: Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) 5.5.4 Posting monitoring and inspection reports Lead Agencies must post monitoring and inspection reports on their consumer education website for each licensed and CCDF child care provider, except in cases where the provider is related to all the children in their care. These reports must include the results of required annual monitoring visits and visits due to major substantiated complaints about a provider’s failure to comply with health and safety requirements and child care policies. A full report covers everything in the monitoring visit, including areas of compliance and non-compliance. If the Lead Agency does not produce any reports that include areas of compliance, the website must include information about all areas covered by a monitoring visit. The reports must be in plain language or provide a plain language summary Lead Agency and be timely to ensure that the results of the reports are available and easily understood by parents when they are deciding on a child care provider. Lead Agencies must post at least 3 years of monitoring and inspection reports. a. Does the Lead Agency post: i. [x] Pre-licensing inspection reports for licensed programs. ii. [ ] Full monitoring and inspection reports that include areas of compliance and non-compliance for all non-relative providers eligible to provide CCDF services. iii. [x] Monitoring and inspection reports that include areas of non-compliance only, with information about all areas covered by a monitoring visit posted separately on the website (e.g., a blank checklist used by monitors) for all non-relative providers eligible to provide CCDF services. If checked, provide a direct URL/website link to the website where a blank checklist is posted: https://www.coloradoshines.com/ iv. [x] Other. Describe: CDEC is requesting a waiver to temporarily allow the continued posting of the monitoring reports showing areas of non-compliance, along with a copy of the complete rules and regulations and an outline of the rules monitored displayed by core areas until August 2026. This additional time will allow CDEC to develop and implement enhancements to IT systems, allowing CDEC to post areas of compliance with all rules CDEC monitors in a consumer- friendly format. b. Check if the monitoring and inspection reports and any related plain language summaries include: i. [x] Date of inspection. ii. [x] Health and safety violations, including those violations that resulted in fatalities or serious injuries occurring at the provider. Describe how these health and safety violations are prominently displayed: CDEC monitors programs for compliance with all rules and regulations at each licensing inspection. Three years of Inspection reports, including injury investigations, are posted on the Colorado Shines website. The website provides a description of each licensing inspection, the date of contact of that inspection, a link to the licensing report of inspection, which includes provider corrective action plans for licensing violations, and the date the licensing specialist verified all violations were corrected by the provider. iii. [x] Corrective action plans taken by the Lead Agency and/or child care provider. Describe: Provider corrective action plans for licensing violations are included on the reports of inspection and posted on the Colorado Shines website. Corrective licensing actions taken by the Department against a license are posted on the Colorado Shines website. The website includes a description of possible recommended actions along with any actions impacting the program’s license within the last three years. The date and the recommended corrective action, the date and final outcome of that recommendation are included in the program’s detail page. iv. [x] A minimum of 3 years of results, where available. v. If any of the components above are not selected, please explain: c. Lead Agencies must post monitoring and inspection reports and/or any related summaries in a timely manner. i. Provide the direct URL/website link to where the reports are posted: CDEC monitors programs for compliance with all rules and regulations at each licensing inspection. Inspection reports are posted on our Colorado Shines website (https://www.coloradoshines.com/search). ii. Identify the Lead Agency’s established timeline for posting monitoring reports and describe how it is timely: Inspection reports are available on the Colorado Shines website (https://www.coloradoshines.com/search) within five (5) days of the inspection contact date. Prior to posting, the report of inspection is reviewed by a licensing supervisor to ensure the accuracy of rule citations, correction deadlines are in accordance with the Department’s policies and procedures and no personal identifying information is included. d. Does the Lead Agency certify that the monitoring and inspection reports or the summaries are in plain language that is understandable to parents and other consumers? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: e. Does the Lead Agency certify that there is a process for correcting inaccuracies in the monitoring and inspection reports? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: f. Does the Lead Agency maintain monitoring and inspection reports on the consumer education website? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If no, describe: 5.5.5 Qualifications and training of licensing inspectors Lead Agencies must ensure that individuals who are hired as licensing inspectors (or qualified monitors designated by the Lead Agency) are qualified to inspect child care providers and facilities and have received health and safety training appropriate to the provider setting and age of the children served. Describe how the Lead Agency ensures that licensing inspectors (or qualified monitors designated by the Lead Agency) are qualified and have received training on health and safety requirements that are appropriate to the age of the children in care and the type of provider setting. At a minimum, all licensing specialists are required to have a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education or related field and have experience working in a child care program. Staff must also receive a regulatory credential through the National Association Of Regulatory Administration within the first year of employment as a licensing specialist. Licensing staff are trained to the child care rules and regulations, standard operating procedures, consistent application of regulations and other topics through a training series. This training includes a module on language and cultural diversity. Once a module has been completed, the specialist shadows other seasoned licensing staff to experience hands-on learning in the field. The training also includes Mandated Child Abuse reporting, identifying safety hazards, and recognition of health requirements. All Licensing staff through their degree, credential, experience and training have qualifications appropriate to the age of children in care and type of provider setting. The Division of Early Learning Licensing and Administration has also developed our own internal online training for new Licensing Specialists. The training consists of 6 modules that train staff on licensing overview, inspections, investigations, professionalism, confidentiality and personal safety, adverse action and report writing. 5.5.6 Ratio of licensing inspectors Lead Agencies must ensure the ratio of licensing inspectors to child care providers and facilities in the State/Territory are maintained at a level sufficient to enable the Lead Agency to conduct effective inspections of child care providers and facilities on a timely basis in accordance with federal, State, and local laws. Provide the ratio of licensing inspectors to child care providers (i.e., number of inspectors per number of child care providers) and facilities in the State/Territory and include how the ratio is sufficient to conduct effective inspections on a timely basis. CDEC, Division of Early Learning Licensing and Administration utilizes a community-based licensing model. This model requires licensing specialists to conduct all inspections for each licensed program type, excluding Qualified Exempt providers, within an assigned geographic territory. The use of this model creates efficiencies in licensing and travel time and helps assist the Division in ensuring the number of licensing specialists per the number of child care providers is sufficient to conduct licensing inspections at least every twelve months. The current ratio of licensing specialists to facilities is approximately 1:80.