5.5 Monitoring and Enforcement of Licensing and Health and Safety Requirements

head trauma and child maltreatment g. Emergency preparedness and response planning and procedures [x] [x] [x] h. Handling and storage of hazardous materials and disposal of biocontaminants [x] [x] [x] i. Appropriate Precautions in transporting children, if applicable [x] [x] [x] j. Pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR (age- appropriate) [x] [ ] [x] 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] [x] 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? [ ] Yes. [x] No. If no, describe: The Department currently has a standing non-compliance for this item due to the inspection reports and rules not specifically using the terms ￿pediatric first aid￿ and ￿biocontaminants￿ as identified in the Preliminary Notice of Non-Compliance dated 3/08/2024. In order to fully implement this requirement for the referenced items, a rule change is required and will not be completed prior to October 1, 2024. As such, the Department requires additional time to meet this requirement. 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? [ ] 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: The Department does not use a differential monitoring approach as its licensing staff is able to monitor all licensed providers regularly and at least twice annually. iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed center-based providers. The Wyoming Department of Family Services (lead agency), the Wyoming Fire Marshal's Office, Wyoming Department of Agriculture, and Local Public Health Agencies conduct pre-licensure inspections, unannounced inspections and/or renewal inspections of all licensed childcare providers in Wyoming, including both CCDF and non-CCDF. 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? [ ] Yes. [x] No. If no, describe: The Department currently has a standing non-compliance for this item due to the inspection reports and rules not specifically using the terms ￿pediatric first aid￿ and ￿biocontaminants￿ as identified in the Preliminary Notice of Non-Compliance dated 3/08/2024. In order to fully implement this requirement for the referenced items, a rule change is required and will not be completed prior to October 1, 2024. As such, the Department requires additional time to meet this requirement. 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: The Department does not use a differential monitoring approach as its licensing staff is able to monitor all licensed providers regularly and at least twice annually. iv. Identify which department or agency is responsible for completing the inspections for licensed family child care providers. The Wyoming Department of Family Services (lead agency), the Wyoming Fire Marshal's Office and Local Public Health Agencies conduct pre-licensure inspections, unannounced inspections and/or renewal inspections of all licensed childcare providers in Wyoming, including both CCDF and non-CCDF. 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: Wyoming does not license in home CCDF child care providers 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. Wyoming does not license in home CCDF child care providers. 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: The Department currently has a standing non- compliance for this item due to the inspection reports and rules not specifically using the terms ￿pediatric first aid￿ as identified in the Preliminary Notice of Non- Compliance dated 3/08/2024. In order to fully implement this requirement for the referenced items, a rule change is required and will not be completed prior to October 1, 2024. As such, the Department requires additional time to meet this requirement. 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 Wyoming Department of Family Services is responsible for conducting inspections of license-exempt CCDF 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: The Department currently has a standing non- compliance for this item due to the inspection reports and rules not specifically using the terms ￿pediatric first aid￿ as identified in the Preliminary Notice of Non- Compliance dated 3/08/2024. In order to fully implement this requirement for the referenced items, a rule change is required and will not be completed prior to October 1, 2024. As such, the Department requires additional time to meet this requirement. 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 Wyoming Department of Family Services is responsible for conducting inspections of license-exempt CCDF 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. The Department's Child Care Purchase of Services Rules, Chapter 1 and the 203b form(Provider Registration Form) describe the annual monitoring visit requirements, which includes fire requirements: fire exits are clear and exit doors remain unlocked or have locks allowing all parties to safely exit. The Department runs a report for non-relative providers, including license-exempt in-home care, the verifiers(inspectors) contact the providers and child’s parent(s), schedules a time to meet in the home or the license-exempt center, to conduct the inspection and complete the checklist, which includes provider and child file reviews and health and safety inspections. Upon completion of the inspection, the provider is provided an assessment of compliance to the requirements and a corrective action plan may be required to remedy any non- compliance issues. The verifiers enter the information into the electronic tracking system. The results will be available to parents and consumers by the deadline required in these rules. The Department currently has a standing non-compliance for this item due to the inspection reports and rules not specifically using the terms ￿pediatric first aid￿ as identified in the Preliminary Notice of Non-Compliance dated 3/08/2024. In order to fully implement this requirement for the referenced items, a rule change is required and will not be completed prior to October 1, 2024. As such, the Department requires additional time to meet this requirement. 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 Wyoming Department of Family Services is responsible for conducting inspections of license-exempt CCDF 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. [ ] 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: iv. [x] Other. Describe: The Lead Agency does not currently post complete results of unannounced licensing inspections, as well as monitoring reports for health and safety licensing requirements inspected by State Department of Agriculture and Fire inspectors. This practice is currently considered to be non-compliant pursuant to the Preliminary Notice of Non-Compliance dated 3/08/2024. As such, the department is revising its forms and processes to comply with this requirement; however, these changes will not be available for implementation until after October 1, 2024 so the Department will need additional time to meet this requirement. 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: The Department’s monitoring and inspection reports identify all violations of non-compliance, including the specific Child Care Licensing Rules citation related to the non-compliance. In addition, the monitoring and inspection reports indicate whether corrective action was achieved or still outstanding to remedy the non-compliance. iii. [x] Corrective action plans taken by the Lead Agency and/or child care provider. Describe: The Department’s monitoring and inspection reports indicate what corrective action is required and timelines for corrections. 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: https://findchildcarewy.org/maps/ ii. Identify the Lead Agency’s established timeline for posting monitoring reports and describe how it is timely: The Department’s Child Care Licensing case management system is programmed to automatically make the reports available on our search page after the 10 day period to request a contested case hearing has passed provided there was no request for a hearing. In those instances where a contested case hearing has been requested, the specific provider's reports will not be public until the conclusion of the contested case hearing. 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. The Department's Child Care Licensing hiring qualifications are established by the State's lead human resource agency, Administration and Information. The licenser position requires a minimum of a Bachelor's degree or combined experience and education will be considered. Priority given to those with a Bachelor's degree in early childhood, child development, social work, or criminal investigation. The child care licensers are required to complete a minimum of 16 training hours per year, which includes the federally required health and safety training and the Early Learning Guideline and Early Learning Foundations (which meet the child development requirement). The training completed by a licenser should fall within the recommended National Standards as stated by Caring for Our Children. Through a program within the Department of Family Services, child care licensers are encouraged to take advantage of the assistance to achieve a higher education. 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. Currently, child care licensers maintain an average ratio of 1:50 and in some cases 1:60. The licenser caseloads are evaluated on a regular basis taking into account the amount of travel for the territory. Child care licensers are assigned "County" territories.