health-and-safety-identification-and-reporting-of-child-abuse

Reason(s) for non-compliance: • The Lead Agency has not established a standard for the identification and reporting of child abuse for license-exempt centers, license-exempt family child care, and license- exempt in-home providers, as required by 98.41(a)(1)(viii). (Plan Questions 5.3.11aiv, 5.3.11av, 5.3.11avi, 5.3.11biv, 5.3.11bv, and 5.3.11bvi) • The Lead Agency does not require an annual inspection for license-exempt centers and license-exempt family child care providers for compliance with an enforceable standard for identification and reporting of child abuse, as required by 98.42(b)(2)(i)(B). (Plan Questions 5.5.2ai and 5.5.2bi) Overall Target Completion Date: 03/01/2025 Action Step Number Action Step Description Target Completion Date 1 License-exempt centers, including family child care providers, were notified per Attorney General opinion they would be ineligible for subsidy until all licensing requirements were met. License- exempt centers, not including family child care providers, were given the deadline of May 1, 2024 to meet all licensing requirements as laid out in the existing Regulations Governing Licensure of Child Care Facilities. License exempt centers, not including family child care providers, met the May 1, 2024 deadline and are being monitored bi- annually. 05/01/2024 2 MS State Department of Health (MSDH) Staff trained on new Family Child Care regulations and monitoring tool. 10/29/2024 3 MSDH Regulations Governing Licensure of Family Child Care (Five or Fewer Children) Regulations approved by the MS State Board of Health. These regulations include requirements around the identification and reporting of child abuse. 11/15/2024 4 The Lead Agency (MS Department of Human Services) and MSDH sent memo out to providers informing of MSDH Regulations Governing Licensure of Child Care Family Homes for 5 and Fewer and the new provider application that would be available on December 2, 2024. 12/02/2024 5 MSDH Child Care Licensure will begin monitoring all CCDF participating child care providers, including those previously categorized as license- exempt family child care, bi-annually. 03/01/2025