Certifying license-exempt centers to participate in child care assistance: FAQs

A program that is exempt from licensure under 245A.03, subdivision 2(a) clauses 5, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, and 26, and is authorized to receive Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) payments must be certified. These programs are referred to collectively as license-exempt centers. License-exempt centers include:

• Programs operated by a public school for children 33 months or older
• Recreation programs for children that are operated or approved by a park and recreation board whose primary purpose is to provide social and recreational activities
• Programs operated by a school as defined in section 120.AA, subdivision 4; YMCA as defined in section 315.44; YWCA as defined in section 315.44; or JCC as defined in section 315.51, whose primary purpose is to provide child care or services to school-age children
• Head Start nonresidential programs which operate for less than 45 days in each calendar year
• Programs for children such as scouting, boys clubs, girls clubs, and sports and art programs, and nonresidential programs for children provided for a cumulative total of less than 30 days in any 12-month period
• Camps licensed by the commissioner of health under Minnesota Rules, chapter 4630
• A program serving only children who are age 33 months or older, that is operated by a nonpublic school, for no more than four hours per day per child, with no more than 20 children at any one time, and that is accredited by: (i) an accrediting agency that is formally recognized by the commissioner of education as a nonpublic school accrediting organization; or (ii) an accrediting agency that requires background studies and that receives and investigates complaints about the services provided.

A license-exempt center that does not receive CCAP payments and is not authorized to receive CCAP payments does not need to be certified. Additionally, any license-exempt center that currently receives CCAP payments or intends to receive CCAP payments in the future must be certified by the Department of Human Services.

All certification requirements are listed in the Health and Human Services omnibus bill that was enacted by the 2017 Legislature – S.F. 2 – on pages 586-614. See the full text of the bill for the exact requirements. Requirements cover several topics including:

• Application procedures and requirements
• Commissioner’s right of access to the program
• Monitoring and inspection of the program
• Correction orders and requests for reconsideration
• Decertification
• Group size, ratio, and staffing qualifications 
• Background studies
• Reporting of deaths, injuries, neglect, or physical or sexual abuse of a child
• Health and safety standards, including disease outbreak control, immunization, medication administration, allergy prevention and response, building and physical premises standards, and transportation
• Training and training documentation, including CPR, first aid, sudden unexpected infant death, abusive head trauma, child development, orientation, and in-service 
• Emergency preparedness
• Personnel records
• Parental access.

DHS will begin reaching out to license-exempt child care centers that participate in CCAP in October 2017.  We are going to request that each program verify the information the department currently has based on your CCAP authorization. We will also request additional information to better understand program specific needs for certification. Certification will be rolled out and processed by DHS on a phased-in schedule. You will be sent more information when the phased-in certification schedule is ready to be implemented. Your CCAP authorization may be terminated if you fail to complete the steps for certification according to the certification schedule.

There is currently no application fee to become certified.

All studies will be conducted using the study subject’s fingerprints. All new studies will require DHS to review the following databases: 

• A fingerprint search of FBI criminal records (for individuals 18 years of age and older)
• A search of the National Sex Offender public website
• A fingerprint search of records held by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA)
• A search of Minnesota's predatory offender registry
• A search of Minnesota's maltreatment database
• An out-of-state search of the child abuse and neglect registry for every state where that the individual resided during the past five years.

Each background study will cost $40, plus a separate fingerprinting fee.

DHS is creating a draft timeline that will be posted on the child care background studies FAQ page. Implementation of the new comprehensive studies has not yet begun for license-exempt centers. You will be contacted well in advance with instructions for when the new studies will be required and how to initiate them.

Unfortunately, you will need to have a new study and be fingerprinted through the DHS statewide fingerprint system. There is no grandfathering of current staff even if a previous study was conducted by the school district or by DHS. Licensed child care center staff who have been studied through NETStudy 2.0 will need to have a new study because of the additional databases that need to be reviewed as a part of this study.

Here are answers to frequently asked questions about the background study process.  We also want to hear from you.  Send an email to DHS background studies with your questions, comments or recommendations related to the background study changes.