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Child Care Certification

Information for Certifying Agencies

Background on Child Care Certification

State law requires counties/tribes to certify providers who receive public funding but are exempt from the licensing law. Most counties have made certification available for all family day care providers, whether or not public funding is involved. DCF promulgates rules establishing standards for the certification of child care providers. 

Benefits of Child Care Certification

• Provider is able to care for Wisconsin Shares subsidized children
• Provider may participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program
• Provider may get parent referrals from Child Care Resource and Referral Agency

New! Certification Rule Change - DWD 55 - Administrative Code

Effective 6/1/08, considerable changes went into effect pertaining to certified child care providers. Below are links pertaining to the rule change process:

• Wisconsin Administrative Rules site includes information on the rule change process, public hearing comments, etc. 
• Complete DWD 55 rule text 
• A letter sent to certified family providers during the week of May 19th, 2008 explaining the rule change.
• Commentary Manual - The purpose of the manual is to help providers/certifying staff understand the intent and application of the rule. An attempt has been made to offer commentary for those rules where experience indicates clarification would be helpful. However, a commentary cannot be written to cover every situation encountered. The comments are written in boxes with italicized print.

Shaken Baby Prevention Training.

The "Prevent Violence Against Children Act" requires all certified providers to receive training in Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention.  For further information, please log on the Children's Trust Fund web or download the provider flier sent to all certified providers on February 6th, 2007.

The list of approved trainers is posted at Wisconsin Child Care Information Center's (WCCIC) site.

Certification Group Size Estimator

The Group Size Estimator is a tool that will help the user understand when a certified provider’s day care schedule may be in violation of the State of Wisconsin child care certification rules.

Child Care Provider Certification (CCPC) System:

CCPC is a web-based system that automates the collection and processing of provider certification applications. CCPC is a practical tool designed for certifying agencies. It has many features that will help the certification workers do their daily work more efficiently and give them access to information about all the certified providers within the state. CCPC also generates statistical management reports and mailing labels for all certified programs.

Note: CCPC is a secure site and accessible only by certification agencies. This site is not accessible by the public. 

Certification related rules and statutes

• DWD 55 - Day Care Certification
• HFS 12 - Caregiver Law
• Chapter 48 - Children's Code
• Chapter 68 - Municipal Administrative Procedure - appeal process

Statistics on Day Care Certification Program

A survey is conducted annually on certification programs; here are the summaries:

• Certification Survey 2007 (pdf)
• Certification Survey 2006 (pdf)
• Certification Survey 2005 (pdf)
• Certification Survey 2004 (pdf)
• Certification Survey 2003 (pdf)
• Certification Survey 2002 (pdf)
• Certification Survey 2001 (pdf)

Additional information on Child Care Regulations 

Child Care Licensing
Nationwide Child Care Regulatory Information 

Child Care Certification Forms

Certifying agencies may order paper copies of the forms from the Forms Repository. 

Operation Memos

Subscribe to the Operation Memos List Serve to receive the most recent updates.. An archive of published memos is also available. 

Certification Manuals

Child Care Manual, Chapter 4, explains the Child Care Certification Policy in more detail. 
Caregiver Manual includes information about the Caregiver Law and how it pertains to child care certification.

Caregiver Law related sites

Caregiver Program
Caregiver Manual
Wisconsin Circuit Court Access 
Crime Information Bureau (DOJ)
Out-of-State Record Checks (DOJ) 

Listing of Certifiers by County/Tribe

Contact information for certifying agencies (pdf) by county/tribe. 

Certification Round-Table Meetings

Half-day training events are held for certifiers biannually. These meetings are offered in connection with the Bureau of Licensing Regional Networking meetings. If the Networking meeting is held in the morning, the certifiers would meet in the afternoon, or vice versa.

Other Child Care Related Links

Wisconsin links

Booster Seat Law (June 1, 2006)
Child and Adult Care Food Program
Wisconsin Child Care Improvement Project (WCCIP) 
Wisconsin Child Care Information Center (WCCIC)
Wisconsin Child Care Resource and Referral Network (CCR&RN)
Wisconsin Council of Children and Families (WCCF)
Wisconsin Immunization Program (DHFS) 
Wisconsin Training Network
 

National links

ADA and Child Care
Allergy and Asthma Network 
American Academy of Pediatrics - SIDS
Child Care Law Center
Kids in Danger
National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome
National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC)
National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care
Redleaf Institute
National SIDS and Infant Death Support Center