Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education policies

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The Director of the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education of the Department of Human Services shall coordinate efforts with other state agencies and appropriate organizations to:

  1. (1)

    1. (A) Share with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management on a quarterly basis an integrated list of all licensed child care facilities and all known license-exempt child care facilities, including without limitation physical addresses, maximum capacity, emergency contact information, and hours of operation.

    2. (B) The integrated list is to be sorted by county;

  2. (2) Include early childhood emergency preparedness courses and workshops that address specific risk factors and evacuation procedures in particular geographic areas among approved courses and workshops for meeting requirements for in-service training for licensed child care providers in those geographic areas;

  3. (3) Incorporate specific indicators of emergency preparedness linked to specific disaster risk factors in licensed child care providers' geographic areas into each level of any quality ratings above minimum licensing standards; and

  4. (4)

    1. (A) Require a child care facility to have a written plan for evacuation in the event of fire, natural disaster, or other threatening situation that may pose a health or safety hazard to the children in the child care facility.

    2. (B) Require the plan to include without limitation:

      1. (i) A designated relocation site and evacuation route;

      2. (ii) Procedures for notifying parents of the relocation and ensuring family reunification;

      3. (iii) Procedures to address the needs of individual children, including children with special needs;

      4. (iv) Instructions relating to the training of staff or the reassignment of staff duties, as appropriate;

      5. (v) Coordination with local emergency management officials; and

      6. (vi) A program to ensure that appropriate staff are familiar with the plan's components.


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