Provides that the group family day care provider shall be the primary caregiver; limits providers to operating one family day care

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill would amend the definitions of "group family day care home" and "family day care home" in Social Services Law ("SSL") § 390(1) to provide that the provider of these family-based day care programs must be the primary caregiver on-site for the program.

Section 2 of the bill would amend SSL § 390(2) to prohibit OCFS from issuing a license or registration for a provider to operate more than one family-based child day care home.

Section 3 of the bill would amend SSL § 390(4) to change the percentage of programs that must be inspected to reflect the current inspection rate of 50% of all registered facilities.

Section 4 of the bill would amend SSL§ 390(10) to prohibit a caregiver whose license or registration is suspended based upon a finding of imminent danger from providing child care to any non-relative child including care for which no license or registration is required.

Section 5 of the bill provides an effective date for the bill.

Existing law

SSL § 390 defines the various types of child day care programs and governs the licensing and registration of child day care providers by OCFS. It also includes authority for the suspension or revocation of a license or registration and civil penalties against child day care providers who violate applicable statutes or regulations.

Prior legislative history

This is a new bill.

Statement in support

This proposal enhances the safety of children in child day care. First, the proposal eliminates the ability of one provider to operate multiple family day care homes or group family day care homes by requiring that the provider be the primary caregiver on-site. By

statute, these homes must be operated in a "residence". The intent of this requirement is to offer parents the option for their children to receive child care services in a "home-like" setting. However, under current law, some providers may obtain multiple licenses or registrations for family-based programs. Consequently, these providers rent space in separate homes or apartments and maintain that because the space is "home" to "someone", the space is a "residence". Often the provider is not on-site but hires employees to run the child care programs.

Programs with absentee providers may be over their allowable capacity and have employees who lack the mandatory health and safety training, criminal history reviews, and child abuse clearances. The proposal addresses this problem by requiring that the provider be the primary caregiver on-site. Existing providers with multiple programs will be permitted to continue operating their programs as long as they otherwise comply with the law.

The proposal also enhances the safety of child care programs by prohibiting a child day care provider with a suspended license or registration from caring for any non-relative children unless and until OCFS confirms that the dangerous situation has been remediated or there has been a fair hearing regarding the case. OCFS suspends the operation of licensed and registered day care programs when it substantiates that a situation involving imminent danger exists at the child care program. Suspended programs sometimes reduce their capacity to two children who are not related to the provider and continue to operate outside OCFS' jurisdiction. This proposal seeks to improve child safety by precluding these providers from caring for non-relative children until the underlying safety issues have been resolved.

Budget implications

There are no additional costs associated with this bill.

Effective date

Sections 1, 3 and 4 would become effective 90 days after enactment. The remaining section of the bill would take effect immediately.