Many resources about health and safety and licensing are available on the Child Care Assistance Training Network website. The following are some highlighted resources that may be helpful to CCDF Administrators.

• Child Care Licensing Tools and Resources is a web page with tools and resources about child care licensing that are designed to help states and territories improve their practices, strengthen provider requirements, and develop the skills of licensing staff.
• To support licensing administrators and CCDF Administrators as they begin to consider revisions to state standards for licensed and license-exempt providers, the National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance (ECQA Center) has developed eight briefs addressing the health and safety topics specified in the law (2020).
  • Brief #1: Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases
  • Brief #2: Administering Medications
  • Brief #3: Prevention of and Response to Emergencies Due to Food and Allergic Reactions
  • Brief #4: Reducing the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Using Safe Sleeping Practices
  • Brief #5: Building and Physical Premises Safety
  • Brief #6: Emergency Preparedness and Response Planning
  • Brief #7: Handling, Storing, and Disposing of Hazardous Materials and Biological Contaminants
  • Brief #8: Transportation of Children
• Contemporary Issues in Licensing, by the National Center on Child Care Quality Improvement (NCCCQI), is a 2014 series of eight reports that include research as well as examples of innovative and diverse state practices. These reports were prepared to help state licensing agencies as they seek to strengthen their programs and better protect children in out-of-home care.
  • Child Care Licensing Inspection Policies
  • Enforcement Strategies with Licensed Child Care Providers
  • Monitoring Strategies for Determining Compliance - Differential Monitoring, Risk Assessment, and Key Indicators
  • Enforcement and Approaches to Illegally-Operating Providers
  • Reporting, Tracking, and Responding to Serious Injuries and Fatalities in Child Care
  • Building and Physical Premises Safety in Child Care
  • Quality Assurance in Child Care Licensing
  • Elements of a Licensing Statute
• Developing and Revising Child Care Licensing Requirements (2017), by the ECQA Center, presents steps for developing and revising child care licensing requirements, based on several states’ successful practices. Having clearly written, research-based, measurable licensing requirements is the first step in protecting children from health and safety risks and promoting quality care. Licensing requirements—supported by monitoring, enforcement, and technical assistance—provide protection through prevention and reduce risks to the health, safety, and well-being of children in care.
• Interpretive Guides for Child Care Licensing Regulations (2017), by the ECQA Center, presents information about seven states that have their interpretive guidelines on a public website. Interpretive guides for their child care licensing regulations generally help child care licensing staff understand the purpose of licensing requirements and the methods they should use to assess facilities’ compliance with the requirements. Child care providers can also use these guidelines to help them understand how they will be assessed during licensing inspections.
• The State School-Age Data Profiles Database offers national, state, and territory profiles on the characteristics of school-age child care supported by CCDF, as well as relevant resources and contact information.

Looking beyond the Early Childhood Training and Technical Assistance System, the following resources can be used by states revising provider requirements:

• Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 4th edition (2019), by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association, and National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education, is a collection of 686 national standards that represent the best evidence, expertise, and experience in the country on quality health and safety practices and policies.
• Caring for Our Children Basics Health and Safety Standards Alignment Tool for Child Care Centers and Family Child Care Homes (2017), by the ECQA Center, provides a simple format for state to compare their current early childhood program requirements and standards against the recommended health and safety standards in Caring for Our Children Basics.
• The CCDF Data Explorer provides state-level data about licensing requirements for health and safety topics that include training requirements, hand washing, diapering, safe sleep practices, firearms, smoking, hazardous materials, emergency preparedness and fire safety, administration of medication, immunizations, and transportation. Additionally, data are available for child-staff ratios and group sizes, CBCs, minimum preservice qualifications, ongoing training hours, and types and frequency of routine licensing inspections.
• The National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations, by the ECQA Center, is a repository of state and territory licensing regulations and agency contact information. It is organized by state and territory and allows users to access child care licensing regulations that apply to child care centers, FCC homes, school-age programs, infant care programs, and other specialized programs. In addition, website links are provided for other early childhood programs standards, such as quality rating and improvements system standards, prekindergarten program requirements, and state health and safety requirements for child care providers receiving CCDF payments.
• The National Program Standards Crosswalk Tool is prepopulated with national early childhood program standards (such as Head Start, accreditation and Caring for Our Children). It is designed to help states that are developing and aligning program standards for licensing, quality rating and improvement systems, or Prekindergarten programs to search and compare the content of several sets of national standards.