As a child care provider, you have a legal obligation to protect and care for each child in your care. This obligation encompasses who you release a child in your care to and under what circumstances you release a child. Releasing a child to an unauthorized individual could pose legal problems for a child care provider and result in revocation of a provider’s child care license.

During the operation of your child care business, complaints made be made to Community Care Licensing (“Licensing”) about your program. This publication is intended to provide basic information on Licensing’s investigation of complaints, how Licensing decides whether to issue a citation against your facility, and how you can appeal a citation that you do not agree with.

This handout provides child care businesses with information about insurance. Purchasing insurance is a method of shifting risk from your child care business to an insurance company in exchange for a premium, which is the payment you make for an insurance policy. As a child care provider, you must be proactive both about risk management and being responsive to the families in case an accident occurs while a child is under your care.

In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which is designed to make an array of services, including child care programs, accessible to people with disabilities. The ADA prohibits family child care providers and child care centers from discriminating against a child, parent, or employee based solely on his/her disability (such as denying admission into a child care program).