2013 Kentucky Revised Statutes CHAPTER 199 - PROTECTIVE SERVICES FOR CHILDREN - ADOPTION 199.896 License requirement -- Application -- Fee -- Emergency action -- Use of information -- Hearing -- Disposition of receipts -- Advertisement -- Unannounced inspections -- Orientation and training requirements -- Prohibition against use of corporal physical discipline.
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199.896 License requirement -- Application -- Fee -- Emergency action -- Use
of information -- Hearing -- Disposition of receipts -- Advertisement -Unannounced inspections -- Orientation and training requirements -Prohibition against use of corporal physical discipline.
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No person, association, or organization shall conduct, operate, maintain, or
advertise any child-care center without obtaining a license as provided in KRS
199.892 to 199.896.
The secretary may promulgate administrative regulations pursuant to KRS
Chapter 13A relating to license fees and may establish standards of care and
service for a child-care center, criteria for the denial of a license if criminal
records indicate convictions that may impact the safety and security of children
in care, and procedures for enforcement of penalties.
Each initial application for a license shall be made to the cabinet and shall be
accompanied by a fee of not more than fifty dollars ($50) and shall be
renewable annually upon expiration and reapplication when accompanied by a
fee of twenty-five dollars ($25). Regular licenses and renewals thereof shall
expire one (1) year from their effective date.
No child-care center shall be refused a license or have its license revoked for
failure to meet standards set by the secretary until after the expiration of a
period not to exceed six (6) months from the date of the first official notice that
the standards have not been met. If, however, the cabinet has probable cause
to believe that an immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare
exists, the cabinet may take emergency action pursuant to KRS 13B.125. All
administrative hearings conducted under authority of KRS 199.892 to 199.896
shall be conducted in accordance with KRS Chapter 13B.
If, upon inspection or investigation, the inspector general finds that a child-care
center licensed under this section has violated the administrative regulations,
standards, or requirements of the cabinet, the inspector general shall issue a
statement of deficiency to the center containing:
(a) A statement of fact;
(b) A statement of how an administrative regulation, standard, or requirement
of the cabinet was violated; and
(c) The timeframe, negotiated with the child-care center, within which a
violation is to be corrected, except that a violation that poses an
immediate threat to the health, safety, or welfare of children in the center
shall be corrected in no event later than five (5) working days from the
date of the statement of deficiency.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services, in consultation with the Office of
the Inspector General, shall establish by administrative regulations
promulgated in accordance with KRS Chapter 13A an informal dispute
resolution process containing at least two (2) separate levels of review through
which a child-care provider may dispute licensure deficiencies that have an
adverse effect on the child-care provider's license.
A child-care center shall have the right to appeal to the Cabinet for Health and
Family Services under KRS Chapter 13B any action adverse to its license or
the assessment of a civil penalty issued by the inspector general as the result
of a violation contained in a statement of deficiency within twenty (20) days of
the issuance of the action or assessment of the civil penalty. An appeal shall
not act to stay the correction of a violation.
(8) In assessing the civil penalty to be levied against a child-care center for a
violation contained in a statement of deficiency issued under this section, the
inspector general or the inspector general's designee shall take into
consideration the following factors:
(a) The gravity of the threat to the health, safety, or welfare of children posed
by the violation;
(b) The number and type of previous violations of the child-care center;
(c) The reasonable diligence exercised by the child-care center and efforts to
correct the violation; and
(d) The amount of assessment necessary to assure immediate and
continued compliance.
(9) Upon a child-care centers failure to take action to correct a violation of the
administrative regulations, standards, or requirements of the cabinet contained
in a statement of deficiency, or at any time when the operation of a child-care
center poses an immediate threat to the health, safety, or welfare of children in
the center, and the child-care center continues to operate after the cabinet has
taken emergency action to deny, suspend, or revoke its license, the cabinet or
the cabinet's designee shall take at least one (1) of the following actions
against the center:
(a) Institute proceedings to obtain an order compelling compliance with the
administrative regulations, standards, and requirements of the cabinet;
(b) Institute injunctive proceedings in Circuit Court to terminate the operation
of the center;
(c) Institute action to discontinue payment of child-care subsidies; or
(d) Suspend or revoke the license or impose other penalties provided by law.
(10) Upon request of any person, the cabinet shall provide information regarding
the denial, revocation, suspension, or violation of any type of child-care center
license of the operator. Identifying information regarding children and their
families shall remain confidential.
(11) The cabinet shall provide, upon request, public information regarding the
inspections of and the plans of correction for the child-care center within the
past year. All information distributed by the cabinet under this subsection shall
include a statement indicating that the reports as provided under this
subsection from the past five (5) years are available from the child-care center
upon the parent's, custodian's, guardian's, or other interested person's request.
(12) All fees collected under the provisions of KRS 199.892 to 199.896 for license
and certification applications shall be paid into the State Treasury and credited
to a special fund for the purpose of administering KRS 199.892 to 199.896
including the payment of expenses of and to the participants in child-care
workshops. The funds collected are hereby appropriated for the use of the
cabinet. The balance of the special fund shall lapse to the general fund at the
end of each biennium.
(13) Any advertisement for child-care services shall include the address of where
the service is being provided.
(14) All inspections of licensed and unlicensed child-care centers by the Cabinet for
Health and Family Services shall be unannounced.
(15) All employees and owners of a child-care center who provide care to children
shall demonstrate within the first three (3) months of employment completion of
at least a total of six (6) hours of orientation in the following areas:
(a) Basic health, safety, and sanitation;
(b) Recognizing and reporting child abuse; and
(c) Developmentally appropriate child-care practice.
(16) All employees and owners of a child-care center who provide care to children
shall annually demonstrate to the department completion of at least six (6)
hours of training in child development. These hours shall include but are not
limited to one and one-half (1.5) hours one (1) time every five (5) years of
continuing education in the recognition and prevention of pediatric abusive
head trauma, as defined in KRS 620.020. Training in recognizing pediatric
abusive head trauma may be designed in collaboration with organizations and
agencies that specialize in the prevention and recognition of pediatric head
trauma approved by the secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family
Services The one and one-half (1.5) hours required under this section shall be
included in the current number of required continuing education hours.
(17) The Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall make available either
through the development or approval of a model training curriculum and
training materials, including video instructional materials, to cover the areas
specified in subsection (15) of this section. The cabinet shall develop or
approve the model training curriculum and training materials to cover the areas
specified in subsection (15) of this section.
(18) Child-care centers licensed pursuant to this section and family child-care
homes certified pursuant to KRS 199.8982 shall not use corporal physical
discipline, including the use of spanking, shaking, or paddling, as a means of
punishment, discipline, behavior modification, or for any other reason. For the
purposes of this section, "corporal physical discipline" means the deliberate
infliction of physical pain and does not include spontaneous physical contact
which is intended to protect a child from immediate danger.
(19) Directors and employees of child-care centers in a position that involves
supervisory or disciplinary power over a minor, or direct contact with a minor,
shall submit to a criminal record check in accordance with KRS 17.165. The
application shall be denied if the applicant has been found by the Cabinet for
Health and Family Services or a court to have abused or neglected a child or
has been convicted of a violent crime or sex crime as defined in KRS 17.165.
(20) A director or employee of a child-care center may be employed on a
probationary status pending receipt of the criminal background check.
Application for the criminal record of a probationary employee shall be made
no later than the date probationary employment begins.
Effective:July 15, 2010
History: Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 171, sec. 7, effective July 15, 2010. --
Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 99, sec. 48, effective June 20, 2005. -- Amended
2000 Ky. Acts ch. 308, sec. 18, effective July 14, 2000. -- Amended 1998 Ky.
Acts ch. 426, sec. 157, effective July 15, 1998; and ch. 524, sec. 2, effective
July 15, 1998. -- Amended 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 318, sec. 90, effective July 15,
1996. -- Amended 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 131, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1994.
Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 57, sec. 4, effective July 14, 1980. -- Amended
1982 Ky. Acts ch. 247, sec. 5, effective July 15, 1982. -- Amended 1980 Ky.
Acts ch. 188, sec. 187, effective July 15, 1980. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts
ch. 203, sec. 1, effective June 17, 1978. -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 74, Art.
VI, sec. 107(21). -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 196, sec. 3.
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