2005 Connecticut Code - Sec. 19a-87b. (Formerly Sec. 17-585(b)-(d)). License required for family day care homes. Criminal history records checks. Regulations. Fees. Notification of changes in regulations.

      Sec. 19a-87b. (Formerly Sec. 17-585(b)-(d)). License required for family day care homes. Criminal history records checks. Regulations. Fees. Notification of changes in regulations. (a) No person, group of persons, association, organization, corporation, institution or agency, public or private, shall maintain a family day care home, as defined in section 19a-77, without a license issued by the Commissioner of Public Health. Licensure forms shall be obtained from the Department of Public Health. Applications for licensure shall be made to the commissioner on forms provided by the department and shall contain the information required by regulations adopted under this section. The licensure and application forms shall contain a notice that false statements made therein are punishable in accordance with section 53a-157b. Applicants shall state, in writing, that they are in compliance with the regulations adopted by the commissioner pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. Before a family day care home license is granted, the department shall make an inquiry and investigation which shall include a visit and inspection of the premises for which the license is requested. Any inspection conducted by the department shall include an inspection for evident sources of lead poisoning. The department shall provide for a chemical analysis of any paint chips found on such premises. The commissioner shall not require an annual inspection for homes seeking license renewal or for licensed homes, except that the commissioner shall make unannounced visits, during customary business hours, to at least thirty-three and one-third per cent of the licensed family day care homes each year. A licensed family day care home shall not be subject to any conditions on the operation of such home by local officials, other than those imposed by the department pursuant to this subsection, if the home complies with all local codes and ordinances applicable to single and multifamily dwellings.

      (b) The Commissioner of Public Health, within available appropriations, shall require each initial applicant or prospective employee of a family day care home in a position requiring the provision of care to a child to submit to state and national criminal history records checks. The criminal history records checks required pursuant to this subsection shall be conducted in accordance with section 29-17a. The commissioner shall also request a check of the state child abuse registry established pursuant to section 17a-101k for perpetrator information. The commissioner shall notify each licensee of the provisions of this subsection.

      (c) The Commissioner of Public Health shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to assure that family day care homes, as defined in section 19a-77, shall meet the health, educational and social needs of children utilizing such homes. Such regulations shall ensure that the family day care home is treated as a residence, and not an institutional facility. Such regulations shall specify that each child be protected as age-appropriate by adequate immunization against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella, hemophilus influenzae type B and any other vaccine required by the schedule of active immunization adopted pursuant to section 19a-7f. Such regulations shall provide appropriate exemptions for children for whom such immunization is medically contraindicated and for children whose parents object to such immunization on religious grounds. Such regulations shall also specify conditions under which family day care home providers may administer tests to monitor glucose levels in a child with diagnosed diabetes mellitus, and administer medicinal preparations, including controlled drugs specified in the regulations by the commissioner, to a child receiving day care services at a family day care home pursuant to a written order of a physician licensed to practice medicine in this or another state, an advanced practice registered nurse licensed to prescribe in accordance with section 20-94a or a physician assistant licensed to prescribe in accordance with section 20-12d, and the written authorization of a parent or guardian of such child. Such regulations shall specify appropriate standards for extended care and intermittent short-term overnight care. The commissioner shall inform each licensee, by way of a plain language summary provided not later than sixty days after the regulation's effective date, of any new or changed regulations adopted under this subsection with which a licensee must comply.

      (d) Applications for initial licensure under this section shall be accompanied by a fee of twenty dollars and such licenses shall be issued for a term of two years. Applications for renewal of licenses granted under this section shall be accompanied by a fee of twenty dollars and such licenses shall be renewed for a term of two years. No such license shall be renewed unless the licensee certifies that the children enrolled in the family day care home have received age-appropriate immunization in accordance with regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (c) of this section.

      (P.A. 94-181, S. 1, 7; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; 95-360, S. 13, 32; P.A. 96-19, S. 1; 96-180, S. 55, 166; P.A. 97-14, S. 2; 97-259, S. 36, 41; P.A. 98-250, S. 15, 39; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1, S. 79, 121; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 99-2, S. 70; P.A. 00-27, S. 11, 12, 24; P.A. 01-175, S. 16, 32; P.A. 03-243, S. 12.)

      History: P.A. 94-181 transferred responsibility for licensing family day care homes from social services department to public health and addiction services department, as a result of which Subsecs. (b) to (d), inclusive, were transferred editorially by the Revisors to Sec. 19a-87a in 1995; P.A. 94-181 also added provision in Subsec. (c) requiring regulations to ensure family day care homes are treated as residences rather than as institutional facilities, effective July 1, 1994; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 95-360 deleted department's authority to purchase services in Subsec. (a) and amended Subsec. (c) to establish increase in fees after 1995, effective July 13, 1995; P.A. 96-19 expanded written orders by physicians in Subsec. (b) to include advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants; P.A. 96-180 made a technical change in Subsec. (a), substituting reference to Sec. 53a-157b for Sec. 53a-157, effective June 3, 1996; P.A. 97-14 added provision re diabetes monitoring in former Subsec. (b); P.A. 97-259 added new Subsec. (b) re criminal records checks and child abuse registry checks and redesignated for Subsecs. (b) and (c) as Subsecs. (c) and (d), effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 98-250 amended Subsec. (c) to require plain language summary of regulations, effective July 1, 1998; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1 made a technical change in Subsec. (b), effective June 24, 1998; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 99-2 amended Subsec. (b) by changing "criminal records check" and "criminal history records checks" to "fingerprint criminal records check" and "fingerprint criminal history records checks"; P.A. 00-27 made technical changes in Subsecs. (a) and (d), effective May 1, 2000; P.A. 01-175 amended Subsec. (b) by replacing language re fingerprint criminal records checks as a permissive request with language re mandatory state and national criminal history records checks pursuant to Sec. 29-17a, deleted language re fee and made technical changes, effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 03-243 added "for perpetrator information" in Subsec. (b).

      Cited. 237 C. 272, 273, 275. Sec. 19a-87b et seq. cited. Id.