Engagement

The Office of Child Care received substantial feedback on proposed rule changes for all child care settings during the public comment period that closed May 21, 2018 and has continued to receive questions and feedback. In an effort to allow more time for public comment, as well as offer additional guidance and opportunities to answer questions from providers, the Office of Child Care will suspend the rulemaking process for the majority of proposed rule changes and move forward in two phases.

Phase 1: A narrow set of the existing proposed rule changes will move forward for adoption in the late summer or early fall. This subset will include rules required to remain in compliance with new federal Child Care Development Fund requirements, state requirements from HB 4065 (2018), and to address standards related to the unique needs of infants. These rules will be open for public comment on July 1, 2018. They will be available on the Secretary of State’s website in the July Bulletin: https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/displayBulletins.action as well as on our website at: https://oregonearlylearning.com/proposed-child-care-rules/. These rules will be effective September 30, 2018.

Phase 2: The remaining proposed changes for permanent rule consideration will reopen for public comment in the fall. The Office of Child Care will conduct a series of engagement sessions with child care providers throughout the state this summer and continue to accept questions and feedback via email at early.learning@state.or.us.

Supporting documents, including a Frequently Asked Questions page, will continue to be posted on our website at: https://oregonearlylearning.com/childcare-rules/.

In addition to these rules, the Early Learning Council will consider new rules for temporary adoption on June 28, 2018. These rules will require providers to provide parents a copy of the program’s current child care license certificate and to post any serious valid complaint and non-compliance letters. These proposed rules will be effective July 1, 2018 in an effort to improve communication with parents.

The proposed temporary rule language for Registered Family, Certified Family and Certified Center providers can be found here: https://oregonearlylearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Draft-Rules-6-22-18-effective-7-1-18.pdf

Thank you for your continued feedback as we work to refine these rules to better promote the health and safety of children in care throughout Oregon.