Child Care Rulemaking Projects

This information was updated in May 2023.

Background

The department is revising child care licensing rules affecting chapters DCF 250, 251, and 252. The primary purpose of the rule revisions is to accurately reflect the nature of school-age child care in DCF 251. However, while make those revisions, we also proposed revisions for DCF 250, 252, and other 251 rules. 

In December 2021 through January 2022, we solicited comments on the proposed rules affecting licensed family child care, group child care, and day camps for children. DCF held a hearing on January 5. The department reviewed all comments submitted on the proposed rule revisions and made many revisions to the rules in response to the comments. The best way to review those changes is to review the Hearing Summary document listed below, which includes a summary of the comments made, the department’s response, and any rule changes made.

The following documents are for your review; please read through them carefully.

• Rule Report for Legislative Review
• Hearing Summary
• Wisconsin Legislative Council Comments
• Updated Proposed Rules for DCF 250, 251, and 252 
• Updated Economic Impact Analysis 
• Economic Impact Analysis 

Resources

Rule revisions will be effective March 1, 2023. Below are resources and tools for child care providers and stakeholders to review as we make this transition. As a note, track changes are used to show which rules were deleted or moved to another section in strikethrough text and which was added in underlined text.

Family Child Care Resources 

• DCF 250 Family Child Care Centers Rules with Track Changes
• DCF 250 Rule Changes at A Glance
• BECR Memo 2023-01: Revisions to DCF 250 - Licensing Rules for Family Child Care Centers

Group Child Care and Public School Operated Program Resources

• DCF 251 Group Child Care Centers and Public School Operated Programs Rules with Track Changes
• DCF 251 Rule Changes at A Glance
• BECR Memo 2023-02: Revisions to DCF 251 - Licensing Rules for Group Child Care Centers
• BECR Memo 2023-04: Revisions to DCF 251 - Licensing Rules for Group Child Care Centers and Programs Established or Contracted for By School Boards

Day Camps for Children Resources

• DCF 252 Day Camps for Children 
• DCF 252 Rule Changes at A Glance
• BECR Memo 2023-03: Revisions to DCF 252 - Licensing Rules for Day Camps for Children
   

Radon Resources

• Radon 101 (video)
• Testing is Key (video)
• How To Test (video)
• Take Action (video)
• DHS Radon Information for Wisconsin
• Statewide Wisconsin Radon Information Centers
• Radon Training from the Department of Health Services (DHS) for Child Care Providers. Both trainings below will contain the same information so providers do not need to attend both. 
  • March 22 from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. – Meeting registration
  • March 24 from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. – Meeting registration
    Note: If you are unable to attend one of these trainings, a recording will be made available on DHS’s Radon in Child Care webpage after March 24. 
     

Training 

The department will be offering regional in person and virtual trainings in February and March. Below is a table with information about the date, time, and locations of upcoming trainings. As more information becomes available, it will be added. If you have any questions, please contact your regional licensing specialist. 

Additionally, the department has created an online, interactive training for each rule group. These trainings may be taken in combination with a regional training or may be taken on their own. 

• DCF 250, Family Child Care Rules Online Training 
• DCF 251, Group Child Care Rules Online Training
• DCF 252, Day Camp Rules Online Training

Formación en español

• DCF 250, Capacitación para la revisión de las reglas de los Centros de Cuidado Infantil Familiar
• DCF 251, Capacitación para la revisión de las reglas de los Centros de Cuidado Infantil Grupal
• DCF 252, Capacitación para la revisión de reglas de los campamentos de día