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: [ ] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [x] Other. If other, describe: All licensed center-based providers (child day centers) appropriate) k. Child abuse and neglect recognition and reporting [x] [x] [x] l. Child development including major domains of cognitive, social, emotional, physical development and approaches to learning. [x] [x] [ ] receive at least two unannounced inspections per year to address compliance with health, safety, and fire standards. (§ 22.1-289.018) All licensing standards within Chapter 780 and subsidy requirements within Chapter 790 are checked for compliance during the two inspections; however, the preliminary notice issued by OCC on June 28, 2023, indicated possible noncompliance in this area because the lead agency cannot monitor compliance with all required CCDF health and safety topics because certain requirements do not exist within these Chapters. Currently the lead agency does not monitor for volunteer emergency preparedness practice drills, group size limits for school age, and all the health and safety topics required in the Pre-service/orientation training related to volunteer emergency preparedness practice drills, because we do not have corresponding standards for centers. The lead agency is in the process of revising the Standards for Licensed Child Day Centers, which will add these additional requirements. The draft Standards have undergone the first review by the Board of Education but still have to go through a final review and then follow the regulatory process, which will not be completed by October 1, 2024. iii. Does the Lead Agency implement a differential monitoring approach when monitoring licensed 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. If no, describe: All licensed facilities are inspected at least twice a year for compliance with health and safety standards per Virginia statute and regulations. These inspections are unannounced. Each health and safety standard is reviewed to determine if the facility complies with the requirement. If there is noncompliance, a violation of the applicable requirement is cited. Regulations are scored as met or unmet, and a risk score is assigned if applicable. A violation notice detailing any findings of non-compliance is written and shared with the facility and posted on the public website. Technical assistance is also provided to clarify regulations and improve service delivery. iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed center-based providers. The Virginia Department of Education, Office of Child Care Health and Safety completes the inspections for licensed center- based providers (child day centers). 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: [ ] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [x] Other. If other, describe: All licensed family child care homes (family day homes) receive at least two unannounced inspections per year to address compliance with health, safety, and fire standards. (§ 22.1-289.018) All licensing standards within Chapter 800 and subsidy requirements within Chapter 790 are checked for compliance during the two inspections; however, the preliminary notice issued by OCC on June 28, 2023, indicated possible noncompliance in this area because the lead agency cannot monitor compliance with all required CCDF health and safety topics because certain requirements do not exist within these Chapters. Currently the lead agency does not monitor for volunteer emergency preparedness training and practice drills, and all the health and safety topics required in the Pre-service/orientation training related to volunteer emergency preparedness training and practice drills, because we do not have corresponding standards for homes. The lead agency will have to amend the Standards for Licensed Family Day Homes (Chapter 800) or the Child Care Program (Chapter 790) before these additional requirements can be added. Amending regulations has to follow the regulatory process, which is a lengthy process and will not be completed by October 1, 2024. 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 facilities are inspected at least twice a year for compliance with health and safety standards per Virginia statute and regulations. These inspections are unannounced. Each health and safety standard is reviewed to determine if the facility complies with the requirement. If there is noncompliance, a violation of the applicable requirement is cited. Regulations are scored as met or unmet, and a risk score is assigned if applicable. A violation notice detailing any findings of non-compliance is written and shared with the facility and posted on the public website. Technical assistance is also provided to clarify regulations and improve service delivery. iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed family child care providers. The Virginia Department of Education, Office of Child Care Health and Safety completes the inspections for licensed family child care providers (family day homes). 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? [ ] No. [x] Yes. If yes, does your pre-licensure inspection for licensed in-home providers assess compliance with health, safety, and fire standards? [x] 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. [x] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: All licensed in- home child care providers (family day homes) receive at least two unannounced inspections per year to address compliance with health, safety, and fire standards. (§ 22.1-289.018) [ ] Other. If other, describe: 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. The Virginia Department of Education, Office of Child Care Health and Safety completes the inspections for licensed in-home providers (family day homes). 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: All license-exempt CCDF center-based child care providers receive an annual unannounced inspection to address compliance with health, safety, and fire standards. (6.2, Child Care Center Vendor Agreement) All subsidy requirements within Chapter 790 are checked for compliance during the annual inspection; however, the preliminary notice issued by OCC on June 28, 2023, indicated possible noncompliance in this area because the lead agency cannot monitor compliance with all required CCDF health and safety topics because certain requirements do not exist within this Chapter. Currently the lead agency does not monitor for volunteer emergency preparedness practice drills, group size limits for school age, and all the health and safety topics required in the Pre-service/orientation training related to volunteer emergency preparedness practice drills, because we do not have corresponding requirements for centers. The lead agency will have to amend the Child Care Program (Chapter 790) before these additional requirements can be added. Amending regulations has to follow the regulatory process, which is a lengthy process and will not be completed by October 1, 2024. 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. The Virginia Department of Education, Office of Child Care Health and Safety completes the inspections for license-exempt CCDF center-based child care providers. 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: [ ] Annually. [ ] More than once a year. If more than once a year, describe: [x] Other. If other, describe: All license-exempt family child care homes receive an annual unannounced inspection to address compliance with health, safety, and fire standards. (6.2, Family Day Home Vendor Agreement) All subsidy requirements within Chapter 790 are checked for compliance during the annual inspection; however, the preliminary notice issued by OCC on June 28, 2023, indicated possible noncompliance in this area because the lead agency cannot monitor compliance with all required CCDF health and safety topics because certain requirements do not exist within this Chapter. Currently the lead agency does not monitor for volunteer emergency preparedness training and practice drills, and all the health and safety topics required in the Pre- service/orientation training related to volunteer emergency preparedness training and practice drills, because we do not have corresponding requirements for homes. The lead agency will have to amend the Child Care Program (Chapter 790) before these additional requirements can be added. Amending regulations has to follow the regulatory process, which is a lengthy process and will not be completed by October 1, 2024. 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. The Virginia Department of Education, Office of Child Care Health and Safety completes the inspections for license-exempt family child care providers. 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. CCDF license-exempt in-home child care providers are inspected at least annually to determine compliance with vendor requirements. Annual inspections are unannounced. Differential monitoring procedures are not used; all health and safety standards are checked for compliance. CCDF license-exempt in-home child care providers also receive inspections if a complaint is received or if the in-home care relocates. 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: The Virginia Department of Education, Office of Child Care Health and Safety completes the inspections for license-exempt CCDF in-home child care providers. 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: The VDOE was notified of possible non-compliance with full monitoring and inspection reports on June 28, 2023, because the Lead Agency only posts the broad header/categories when addressing areas of compliance. The VDOE currently uses parts within each regulation set as the header/categories, but has proposed alternative topic headers that are more specific, including a statement that unless a violation in the areas reviewed is specified, the program was in compliance at the time of inspection. The proposed changes were sent to the OCC team on 8/22/2024 for review. The VDOE is currently working on upgrading the licensing system, and we are exploring if the specific topics headers can somehow be hyperlinked or if the forms that include every standard/statute within the topic header can be made available to allow the public to easily see what standards are included in the listed areas of standards reviewed. The lead agency will not be in compliance by October of 2024, and instead expects the online portion of the updated system to be ready in the late Spring of 2025. iv. [ ] Other. Describe: 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: Inspections are listed by facility name and date. Columns note if the inspection was a subsidy health and safety inspection, if it was complaint related, and whether violations were found. The user can select the date of inspection or the link under the violations column to view the health and safety violations described in the inspection report. Each violation lists the standard or statute number and a description of the violation, which includes language indicating whether the noncompliance resulted in fatalities or serious injuries. iii. [x] Corrective action plans taken by the Lead Agency and/or child care provider. Describe: Corrective action plans taken by the lead agency are not listed in inspection findings, but corrective action plans offered by the child care providers are included in the inspection reports. iv. [x] A minimum of 3 years of results, where available. v. If any of the components above are not selected, please explain: The VDOE was notified of possible non-compliance with full monitoring and inspection reports on June 28, 2023, because information on corrective action taken by the State, where applicable, is not posted. The inspection reports list corrective action taken by providers, but not actions taken by the state. The VDOE is currently working on upgrading the licensing system, which will allow corrective actions such as administrative sanctions issued, to be posted online. The lead agency will not be in compliance by October of 2024, and instead expects the online portion of the updated system to be ready in the late Spring of 2025. 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: https://www.childcare.virginia.gov/find-care Users can enter the facility name, county, zip code or select the type of care they are searching for before selecting ￿search￿ to display a list of programs to choose from. The user then can select the program name to view a list of the inspection reports, then selecting the inspection date to view the inspection summary and violation notice or selecting ￿yes￿ under the violations column to only view the violation notice ii. Identify the Lead Agency’s established timeline for posting monitoring reports and describe how it is timely: Inspection reports are entered into the Lead Agency's electronic database system within five (5) business days of completing the inspection unless the inspector is able to complete the report on-site. The provider is then given five (5) business days from receipt of the inspection report to provide a plan of correction, after which the findings are posted on the Lead Agency's public website. 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. To ensure that the Lead Agency's inspectors are qualified to inspect providers and facilities and provide technical assistance to improve services, the Lead Agency has the following in place: Each licensing inspector's Employee Work Profile requires them to have knowledge, skills and abilities in: developmental, social, emotional, and health/medical needs of children served in regulated programs; working effectively withing difficult and hostile environments to resolve problems; ability to interpret and apply laws, regulations, policies and procedures; communicating effectively with diverse populations, both orally and in writing, and working collaboratively and cooperatively with others; ability to operate basic office computer systems/programs; and information and evidence collection and analysis techniques. All newly hired inspectors complete an orientation and training program that covers licensing requirements as well as CCDBG health and safety requirements and the inspection process. Components of this program include licensing-related reading assignments, completing online training sessions, classroom style training sessions, field training, and ongoing competency assessments. Many inspectors have completed training from the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) and attained the National Regulatory Professional Credential in the past, and most inspectors, except for those hired since 2021 have completed the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR) National Certification for Investigators/Inspectors Training Basic Program course and received certification. All inspectors are required to complete the 10-hour health and safety preservice orientation. Staff has ongoing professional development plans and receives training throughout the year, both online and in person, and are required to complete at least 10 hours of job-related training annually. Documentation of training is maintained in staff files. 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. Inspector caseloads are limited to 60 facilities per inspector except when temporary higher caseloads are required due to vacancies, extended leave, special projects or other extenuating circumstances. Inspector caseloads include a mixture of all program types (some of which require two inspections annually and some of which require annual inspections) for better caseload distribution. This helps ensure that effective inspections are completed on a timely basis and ensure that staff are sufficiently cross trained in the event that a peer’s caseload needs to be covered. A mixed caseload of 60 programs requires staff to complete roughly 7 to 10 health and safety inspections each month, allowing additional time to provide consultation, technical assistance, and investigates complaints of noncompliance.