Requirements for operation of a Child Care Center have been revised and became effective January 1, 2007.  The title of the Requirements has now been changed to Delacare: Rules for Early Care and Education and School-Age Centers.  The 1988 Delacare: Requirements for Day Care Centers no longer reflected the current body of knowledge in the field of early care and education. The adoption of the new rules was necessary to establish a baseline of care which more appropriately reflects accepted quality standards that support healthy, safe and enriching early care and education and school-age practices that will better prepare children to be ready for and succeed in school and in life. Delaware has now moved from having the oldest regulations to the most current regulations for Child Care Centers. 

There are two formats of Delacare: Rules for Early Care and Education and School-Age Centers available for review on this website.  The “plain text” version is the official version of the new rules and is in an “easy read” format.  This is most appropriate for the reader wanting only to know the rules effective January 1, 2007. 

The second version is the 1988 rules with revisions added to that document as put out for the Public Hearing/Comment phase of the rule revision process and subsequently revised based on comments.  This is the format required by the “Registry of Regulations”.  On this version, new wording is underlined with yellow highlights for the original additions and strikethrough for wording originally eliminated.  Based on the recent public comment period, more changes were made to the rules and can be viewed as [bracketed with underlined turquoise highlights] for the recent additions and [bracketed strikethrough] for recent deletions. The new Delacare rules are also published in the December 2006 issue of the Register of Regulations.

The implementation of new Rules followed a thoughtful and comprehensive process in which a review of best practices in the field of early care and education and school-age care was completed, a comparison of child care center regulations of contiguous States and States with similar demographics to those of Delaware was conducted, and an examination of regulatory experience of the Office of Child Care Licensing performed.  A task force was formed to review existing regulations and relevant materials in order to make recommendations for changes to the Requirements. The task force included a wide cross section of Center Directors, educational specialists, subject experts, parents, concerned citizens and Staff of this Office.  The task force and subcommittees met periodically from September 2001 to June 2006. 

Two periods of public comment were held, the first in February 2004.  Public comments during that period led to the withdrawal of the proposed regulations while a financial impact study was conducted as directed by Governor Minner.  The findings of the financial impact survey were set forth in Delacare: Requirements for Day Care Centers Fiscal Impact Study released October, 2005.  After further deliberation another set of regulations, Delacare: Rules for Early Care and Education and School-Age Centers were put forth for public comment in August, 2006.  The period of public comment concluded on September 22, 2006 at which time a final set of Rules were submitted to the Secretary of the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families for her review.  By her signature the Secretary approved the rules for implementation.

Two thousand six will be a time for transition.  “Implementation Technical Assistance Sessions” been be offered across the State to assist Centers meet the new requirements.   The following sessions have been scheduled.

NOTICE 

EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION AND SCHOOL-AGE CENTER RULE TRAINING

FOR LICENSED CENTERS ONLY

NEW CASTLE COUNTY	KENT COUNTY	NEW CASTLE COUNTY
Date: Monday, May 14, 2007	Date: Tuesday, May 29, 2007	Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Place: Woodlawn Library	Place: DE DOT Administrative Building - Farmington Room	Place: Bear Library
2020 W 9th Street	800 Bay Road	101 Governor’s Place
Wilmington, DE 19805	Dover, DE 19903	Bear, DE 19701
10:30AM to 1:30PM	10:00AM to 1:00PM	10:30AM to 1:30PM

Pre-registration is required as seating may be limited at some locations.  Please call (302)892-4574 and ask for Lynn Jezyk to register for a session.

The Office of Child Care Licensing and the Child Care Center professionals are moving forward together to create the child care opportunities that the children and families of Delaware deserve.  We continue to work everyday motivated by the vision of the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families “Think of the Child First”. The support of the entire community is sought to ensure that every child has the great start so important for each child to achieve his or her full promise.