The Connecticut Department of Health regulates staffing at certain Child Care Centers464 and Group Day Care homes465 ("Regulated Child Care Facilities").
Each Regulated Child Care Facility must submit to the Department of Health for each prospective employee:
(1) a completed state and federal fingerprint card for a State Police Bureau of Identification and a Federal Bureau of Investigation Criminal Records check; and
(2) the applicant's name, address, social security number and date of birth for a check of the State Child Abuse Registry.
Each Regulated Child Care Facility must keep a file on the premises for each employee that includes:
(1) a medical statement signed by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse or physician assistant, completed within twelve months before the date of employment for new staff, and every twenty-four months for current staff, such statement to document the presence of any known medical or emotional illness or disorder that would currently pose a risk to children in care or would currently interfere with effective functioning as an employee of a child day care center or group day care home;
(2) upon employment, a written report of a negative tuberculin test completed within twelve months prior to the date of employment or for a known prior reactor, no evidence of active tuberculosis on a chest x-ray;
(3) documentation of continuing education for each full time or part time staff person who cares for the children.
Each Regulated Child Care Facility must have a designated head teacher submit to the Department of Health a written verification of being twenty years of age or older, having the personal qualifications needed to supervise people, and having:
(1) in a Child Day Care Center:
(a) a high school diploma or equivalency certificate,
(b) at least one thousand and eighty hours of documented supervised experience over a nine month span of time, including working with children in a program with these standards or comparable standards in this or another state, which program serves children of the same ages and developmental stages who are served at the child day care center, and one of the following: a current center-based Child Development Associate Credential issued from the Council for Early Childhood Professional childhood education or child development from an accredited institution of higher education with program approval from the Board of Governors of Higher Education, or
(c) approval by the Department as a head teacher prior to January 1, 1994.
(2) in a Group Day Care Home:
(a) a high school diploma or equivalency certificate,
(b) at least one thousand and eight documented hours of experience over a nine month span of time working with unrelated children of the same ages and developmental stages to be served in this home;
(3) in a Child Care Center or Group Day Care Home,
(a) a four year college degree in early childhood education or child development from an accredited institution of higher education with program approval from the Board of Governors of Higher Education, and
(b) at least three hundred sixty hours of documented supervised experience in working with unrelated children of the same age(s) to be served in this child day care center or group day care home with these standards or comparable standards in this or another state and at least one semester of student teaching with children of the same age(s) and developmental stages that are served in the center or home.
In addition, each Regulated Child Care Facility must have a second program person who works under supervision of the head teacher that is at least eighteen years of age and has at least one of the following:
(1) a high school diploma, or
(2) an equivalency certificate, or
(3) at least five hundred and forty hours documented experience in working with unrelated children of the same age(s) to be served in this child day care center or group day care home.
During all hours of operations, all regulated child day care facilities must have at least one staff member who has successfully completed within the past three years a Department of Health approved course.
Further, the operator of each regulated child care facility must maintain a staff adequate for the number, ages and developmental needs of the children to be accommodated. The Connecticut Regulations set forth the minimum staffing permitted.466 Specifically, a designated head teacher shall be on site for sixty percent of the time the child day care center is in operation on a weekly basis, and there shall be at least two staff eighteen years of age or older on the premises when one or more children are to be available to care for the children.
The Connecticut Regulations further provide that all staff in a regulated child day care facility must have the personal qualities necessary to (a) care for and work with children, (b) relate to adults, and (c) relate to parents.
With respect to staff/child ratios, there shall be at least one program staff person for every ten children, or fraction thereof in attendance. When there is a mixed age group the lower required ratio for the age of the youngest child shall prevail.
With respect to Group size, the group size shall not exceed twenty children. When there is a mixed age group the smaller required group size shall prevail.
464 Child Care Centers are defined as a program of supplementary care for more than twelve related or unrelated children outside their own homes on a regular basis for a part of the twenty-four hours in one or more days in the week by the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Conn. Agencies Regs. § 19a-79-1a(9).
465 Group Day Care homes are defined as a program of supplementary care for not less than seven nor more than twelve unrelated children on a regular basis for a part of the twenty-four hours in one or more days this week. (Conn. Agencies Regs. § 19a-79-1a(28)).
466 / Conn. Agencies Regs. § 19a-79-4a(c).