The Office of Early Childhood shall be the lead agency for child care services, as described in section 19a-77, in Connecticut. The office shall: (1) Identify, annually, existing child care services and maintain an inventory of all available services; (2) provide technical assistance to corporations and private agencies in the development and expansion of child care services for families at all income levels, including families of their employees and clients; (3) study and identify funding sources available for child care services including federal funds and tax benefits; (4) study the cost and availability of liability insurance for providers of child care services; (5) encourage providers of child care services to obtain accreditation; (6) develop a range of financing options for child care services, including the use of a tax-exempt bond program, a loan guarantee program and the establishment of a direct revolving loan program; (7) promote the colocation of child care services and school readiness programs pursuant to section 4b-31; (8) establish a performance-based evaluation system; (9) develop for recommendation to the Governor and the General Assembly measures to provide incentives for the private sector to develop and support expanded child care services; (10) provide, within available funds and in conjunction with the temporary family assistance program, as defined in section 17b-680, and administered by the Department of Social Services, child care services to public assistance recipients; (11) develop and implement, with the assistance of the Early Childhood Cabinet, established pursuant to section 10-16z, a coordinated and comprehensive state-wide early childhood care and education system of professional development for providers and staff of early childhood care and education programs, including child care centers, group child care homes and family child care homes that provide child care services, that makes available to such providers and their staff, within available appropriations, scholarship assistance, career counseling and training and advancement in career ladders; (12) plan and implement a unit cost reimbursement system for state-funded child care services such that, on and after January 1, 2008, any increase in reimbursement shall be based on a requirement that such centers meet the staff qualifications, as defined in subsection (b) of section 10-16p; (13) develop, within available funds, initiatives to increase compensation paid to providers of child care services for educational opportunities, including, but not limited to, (A) incentives for educational advancement paid to persons employed by child care centers receiving state or federal funds, and (B) support for the establishment and implementation by the Labor Commissioner of apprenticeship programs for child care center workers pursuant to sections 31-22m to 31-22q, inclusive, which programs shall be jointly administered by labor and management trustees; (14) evaluate the effectiveness of any initiatives developed pursuant to subdivision (13) of this section in improving staff retention rates and the quality of education and care provided to children; and (15) report annually to the Governor and the General Assembly, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, on the status of child care services in Connecticut. Such report shall include (A) an itemization of the allocation of state and federal funds for programs providing child care services; (B) the number of children served under each program so funded; (C) the number and type of such programs, providers and support personnel; (D) state activities to encourage partnership between the public and private sectors; (E) average payments issued by the state for both part-time and full-time child care; (F) the range of family income and percentages served within each range by such programs; and (G) the age range of children served.

(P.A. 82-261, S. 2, 6; P.A. 85-495, S. 3, 7; P.A. 86-417, S. 6, 15; P.A. 87-77; 87-110; P.A. 88-160, S. 2, 3; P.A. 91-292, S. 2; 91-327, S. 5, 8; 91-371, S. 1; 91-406, S. 25, 29; P.A. 93-20, S. 2; 93-91, S. 1, 2; 93-118; 93-262, S. 44, 87; 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 94-181, S. 1, 7; P.A. 95-250, S. 1; 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; P.A. 97-259, S. 26, 41; P.A. 01-206; P.A. 04-212, S. 6; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-2, S. 15; P.A. 13-299, S. 37; P.A. 14-39, S. 25; P.A. 15-227, S. 25; P.A. 16-163, S. 10; P.A. 18-126, S. 11.)

History: P.A. 85-495 inserted new provisions designated as Subsec. (a) re human resources department's duties re child day care services, and designated previously existing provisions as Subsecs. (b) to (d), inclusive; P.A. 86-417 amended Subsec. (a) by requiring the department to provide, in conjunction with the department of education, training for day care providers and requiring department of human resources to provide day care to assistance recipients in the WIN program, amended Subsec. (b) by requiring that family day care homes be registered instead of licensed and adding requirements for registration and inspection and made technical changes in Subsec. (c); P.A. 87-77 amended Subsec. (b) to require inspections to include an inspection for evident sources of lead poisoning and to require the department to provide a chemical analysis of any paint chips found on such premises; P.A. 87-110 amended Subsec. (b) to require that the department investigation include a visit and inspection of the premises and changed the percentage of homes for unannounced visits from “ten” to “thirty-three and one-third”; P.A. 88-160 amended Subsec. (b) to provide that a registered family day care home shall not be subject to any conditions other than those imposed by the department as long as the home complies with applicable local codes and ordinances; Sec. 17-31q transferred to Sec. 17-585 in 1991; P.A. 91-292 in Subsec. (a) inserted new Subdiv. (8) re development and implementation of child day care training system, renumbering the remaining Subdiv. and specifying information to be included in report to general assembly re day care; P.A. 91-327 amended Subsec. (c) to direct the department of human resources to establish regulations to require immunizations according to the schedule established by the department of health services before a child may attend a family day care home, and amended Subsec. (d) to require registrants to certify that children enrolled are immunized; P.A. 91-371 in Subsec. (a) inserted new Subdiv. (9) re cost reimbursement system for state-funded child day care services and renumbered the remaining Subdiv. accordingly; P.A. 91-406 substituted “JOBS” for “WIN incentive” program in Subsec. (a)(7); P.A. 93-20 amended Subsec. (c) to require that the regulations specify standards for the extended care and overnight care provided by family day care homes; P.A. 93-91 substituted commissioner and department of children and families for commissioner and department of children and youth services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-118 amended Subsec. (c) to require regulations re family day care home providers' administering certain medicinal preparations; P.A. 93-262 replaced references to commissioners and departments of income maintenance and human resources with commissioner and department of social services and changed the word “registration” to “license” or “licensure”, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-381 replaced department of health services with department of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 94-181 transferred the licensure program of family day care homes to the department of public health and addiction services from the department of social services, effective July 1, 1994, as a result of which Subsecs. (b), (c) and (d) were transferred editorially by the Revisors to Sec. 19a-87b in 1995; Sec. 17-585(a) transferred to Sec. 17b-733 in 1995; P.A. 95-250 replaced Commissioner and Department of Economic Development with Commissioner and Department of Economic and Community Development; 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. 97-259 amended Subdiv. (5) to add the Department of Higher Education, added new Subdivs. (6) to (9), inclusive, renumbered existing Subdivs., and in Subdiv. (11) substituted temporary family assistance program for JOBS program, effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 01-206 added new Subdivs. (14) and (15) re initiatives to increase compensation paid to child day care providers and evaluation of these initiatives and renumbered existing Subdiv. (14) as Subdiv. (16); P.A. 04-212 amended Subdiv. (12) to require assistance from Department of Higher Education re development and implementation of a state-wide coordinated child day care and early childhood education training system and to specify the types of training initiatives that should be made available to child day care providers and their staff; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-2 amended Subdiv. (13) by requiring that on and after January 1, 2008, any increase in reimbursement shall be based on requirement that centers meet staff qualifications, as defined in Sec. 10-16p(b), effective July 1, 2007; P.A. 13-299 deleted reference to Child Day Care Council in Subdiv. (12), effective July 1, 2013; P.A. 14-39 replaced references to Department of Social Services with references to Office of Early Childhood, deleted former Subdiv. (5) re provision of ongoing training for providers, redesignated existing Subdivs. (6) to (16) as Subdivs. (5) to (15), added “and administered by the Department of Social Services,” and made a technical change in redesignated Subdiv. (10), replaced provision re state-wide coordinated child day care and early childhood education training system with provision re early childhood care and education system of professional development and deleted provision re articulation of levels of training, program accreditation support and other initiatives in redesignated Subdiv. (11) and added reference to Sec. 11-4a in redesignated Subdiv. (15), effective July 1, 2014; pursuant to P.A. 15-227, “child day care services”, “child day care programs”, “child day care centers”, “group day care homes” and “family day care homes” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “child care services”, “child care programs”, “child care centers”, “group child care homes” and “family child care homes”, respectively, effective July 1, 2015; P.A. 16-163 added reference to Sec. 19a-77, replaced references to child day care with references to child care services and child care center, and made technical and conforming changes, effective June 9, 2016; P.A. 18-126 amended Subdiv. (11) by deleting reference to definition in Sec. 4-124bb.

Annotation to former section 17-585:

Cited. 31 CA 359.