Committee hears update, recommendations on child care licensing and investigation

Candace Yates, director of Child Care Aware of Minnesota, is extremely concerned.

“We are in a fragile moment right now. Programs are closing. The workforce is strained and families are still struggling to find care,” she told the House Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee Tuesday. 

Educators and care workers like Yates advocated for recommendations outlined by Think Small, a nonprofit focused on improving early child care in Minnesota. No committee action was taken.

[MORE: View the Think Small presentation]

Nicole Smerillo, director of data, research, and policy at Think Small, highlighted multiple recommendations: clear and funded child care options, establishment of a Minnesota Board of Early Care and Education and the establishment of early care and education program pathways, and “right-sizing” health and safety licensing.

“There should be clear and funded options for child care for families,” Smerillo said.

The current licensure, new regulation and investigative process at the Department of Children, Youth, and Families was outlined by the department’s inspector general, Randy Keys.

[MORE: View the overview]

Every licensed Minnesota child care program must be visited unannounced at least once per year to retain its licensure. For new programs, restrictions are tighter.

In 2019, the Legislature funded a program to provide earlier technical assistance and ensure earlier program integrity oversight for new programs. This was in response to an Office of the Legislative Auditor report that found weaknesses in the Department of Human Services’ program integrity controls and concluded that both the department and local human services agencies must do more to effectively prevent, detect and investigate fraud in Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program.

Now, new licensed centers receive four visits from their licensor during their first year of operation. The first licensing visit is an announced technical assistance visit, but subsequent licensing visits are unannounced.