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Required Health and Safety Training for CCDBG Reauthorization

Best practices and standards are the foundation of quality care. Meeting the basic health and safety needs of all children sets the stage for positive child outcomes.

The Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the primary federal grant program that provides child care assistance for families and funds child care quality initiatives. In November 2014, Congress passed bipartisan legislation to promote the safety of children in child care. These new baseline safety and quality measures are to improve the quality of all early care and education programs.

To meet these requirements, the State of New Jersey has issued the following provisions that must be met by all child care programs that receive child care subsidy funds.

All child care staff members are required to complete these trainings if their program receives any child care subsidy funds. Child care staff members include:

  • Those who are employed by a child care provider for compensation; or
  • Those whose activities involve the care or supervision of children for a child care provider or unsupervised access to children who are cared for or supervised by a child care provider.

All teaching staff, providers, caregivers and individuals responsible for the direct care and supervision of children must complete all health and safety training.

New hires, must complete the training within two weeks of hire.

All child care programs receiving child care subsidy funds must identify that they are attempting to complete the Required Health and Safety Training for CCDBG Reauthorization. A program, staff member, Registered Family Child Care (FCC) provider and Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) provider must have begun the training process or must have identified a date that the training will be completed on or by.

All staff working in a Licensed or Registered Child Care programs (licensed by the State of New Jersey, Department of Children and Families (DCF), Office of Licensing (OOL)) must complete the following required health and safety training

Health and Safety Trainings

All staff, providers, caregivers, and individuals responsible for the direct care and supervision of children must complete the following pre-service CCDBG health and safety trainings:

  • Health, Safety, and Child Growth and Development/Mandated Reporting: Basic Requirement for Licensing training (10 hours) which covers the following topics:
    • Prevention and control of infectious diseases (including immunization);
    • Prevention of sudden infant death syndrome and use of safe sleeping practices;
    • Administration of medication, consistent with standards for parental consent;
    • Prevention of and response to emergencies due to food and allergic reactions;
    • Building and physical premises safety, including identification of and protection from hazards that can cause bodily injury such as electrical hazards, bodies of water, and vehicular traffic;
    • Prevention of shaken baby syndrome, abusive trauma, and child maltreatment;
    • Emergency preparedness and response for emergencies resulting from a natural disaster, or a man-caused event (such as violence at a child care facility),
    • Handling and storage of hazardous materials and the appropriate disposal of bio-contaminants;
    • Precautions in transporting children (if applicable);
    • Recognition and reporting of child abuse and neglect; and
    • Child development
  • First Aid and Pediatric Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training (staff/providers are required to maintain certification to meet state requirements and regulations)

IMPORTANT: New hires must complete training within two weeks of hire

 

All home-based child care programs, Registered Family Child Care Homes (FCC) and Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) providers must complete the above Health and Safety Trainings as well as:

  • Orientation (2.5 hours) – The Orientation only needs to be completed by Registered Family Child Care Home (FCC) and Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) providers. All prospective FCC and FFN providers must complete all trainings prior to becoming an approved provider to receive child care subsidies.

Please note: Only the Health and Safety training courses that are offered through the State of New Jersey’s online training platforms or through the county child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agencies to meet the Subsidy Assistance Program Health and Safety Requirements will be counted towards the required training hours.

 

Where Can Staff Access the Required Trainings?

All required trainings (Health, Safety, Child Growth, and Development/Mandate Reporting and First Aid and CPR, Orientation for FCC’s and FFN’s) can be accessed through Child Care Resources of Monmouth County. First Aid/CPR Trainings have a cost, but all other required trainings provided by Child Care Resources are free, classroom-based and meet all the requirements as set forth by the Division of Family Development (DFD). Trainings are being offered at times that are convenient and can meet the needs of child care staff by our Child Care Education Coordinator/Lead Trainer.

Health, Safety, Child Growth, and Development/Mandate Reporting in both English and Spanish can also be accessed online at no cost through the State of New Jersey, Department of Human Services, Division of Family Development (DHS, DFD). This online training program can be accessed through Child Care In New Jersey – Required Training (childcarenj.gov)

Online training programs can be accessed at Child Care Resources’ location in our learning lab. Our computers can be accessed during designated times for staff use to complete the required training.

Click here to view our Semi-Annual Professional Development Calendar.

Where Can Staff Access First Aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Training?

First Aid and CPR training is required for all teaching staff and individuals must obtain training from Child Care Resources or another training vendor. Training vendors include the American Safety and Health Institute, American Red Cross and the American Heart Society. First Aid/CPR training cannot be completed online and must offer hands-on skills practice.

How Do Staff Register for Trainings?

All participants should register as a member of the NJ Workforce Registry in order to register for trainings. Participants must become members of or renew their NJ Workforce Registry membership to register for trainings. Child Care Resources staff is available to assist every professional applying to the NJ Workforce Registry. Our agency has available computers to support you during designated hours and by appointment. You can utilize these computers to apply to the Registry, register for trainings and take online trainings.

You can access the NJ Workforce Registry, by clicking here.

 

Other CCDBG Requirements

 Comprehensive Criminal Background Checks

Under CCDBG requirements for child care providers, all staff, including volunteers, must undergo a comprehensive criminal background check before they can begin working with children.

  • Staff members of child care centers and home-based providers must complete fingerprinting for criminal background checks that include:
  • Search of the New Jersey criminal registry and for each state where the staff member has resided for the past five years, with the use of fingerprints being required in New Jersey and optional for other states;
  • Search of the New Jersey sex offender registry and for each state where the staff member has resided for the past five years;
  • Search of the National Crime Information Center’s National Sex Offender Registry; and
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fingerprint check using the Next Generation Identification
  • Staff members of child care centers and home-based providers must complete a Child Abuse Record Information (CARI) check that includes:
  • Search of the New Jersey-based child abuse and neglect registry and database and for each state where the staff member has resided for the past five years

 

IMPORTANT: For home-based providers, household members 18 years and older are also required to complete criminal background checks, and household members 14 years and older are required to complete the CARI checks.

What are the Ratio and Grouping Requirements?

Child care programs must maintain a certain number of staff for the number of children you are serving. For example, if you are a Licensed Child Care Center (licensed by the State of New Jersey, DCF, OOL), you must have one teacher for four children. Under the “grouping requirements,” a specific number of children by age are allowed to be cared for together. To get all of the staffing and grouping requirements, go to N.J.A.C 10:122 – Subchapter 4 – 4.3 and 4.4 – http://www.nj.gov/dcf/providers/licensing/laws/CCCmanual.pdf.

For Registered Family Child Care Homes (registered by Child Care Resources), the provider shall care for no more than the following numbers of infants and toddlers unless a second caregiver is present: three children below one year of age; or four children below two years of age, of whom no more than two shall be below one year of age. To get all of the requirements regarding the maximum number of children and the ages of children, go to N.J.A.C. 10:126 – Subchapter 6 – 6.1 and 6.2 – http://www.state.nj.us/dcf/providers/licensing/laws/FCCmanual.pdf.

  

Child Care Resources Is Here To Help!

As your local child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agency, Child Care Resources, is committed to supporting you to meet these requirements. We can be available to meet to discuss a training plan that ensures all your staff can meet the requirements.  Our staff is available to assist you through each step of this training process.

For additional support on CCDBG Requirements contact Child Care Resources, Child Care Education Coordinator/Lead Trainer at 732-918-9901, Ext. 119 or email at info@ccrnj.org with any questions or to set up a meeting or phone consultation.

 

For more information about the State of New Jersey’s child care plan, you can access their website at www.childcarenj.com.

For more information on CCDBG Requirements and the NJ Child Care Assistance Program, visit www.ChildCareNJ.gov/Providers/CCDBG