Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Certification Policy Manual
The 2001 Wisconsin Act 16, which passed as part of the 2001-2003 Wisconsin biennial budget, established requirements for all individuals (employees, operators, volunteers) who provide care and supervision of children to receive, (either before the date on which the certification / license is issued or person begins employment or volunteer work) training in the most currently medically accepted methods of reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
In September 2001, the department issued Operations Memo 01-58 which outlined the requirements under the Act.
Anyone who cares for children less than 12 months of age in a certified child care program must be trained on SIDS risk reduction methods or sudden unexpected infant death (SUID). SUID is the sudden and unexpected death of an infant due to natural or unnatural causes where the cause of death is not immediately evident. This requirement pertains to the certified operator and any other providers, including substitutes, volunteers, helpers, employees and emergency back-up providers (See section 3.6 in this module regarding SIDS training for emergency back-up providers). There is not a statewide department-approved curriculum for this training, and the training can be obtained in many ways. Certification workers may require the operator / provider to attend an in-person training offered by many agencies, such as the local Child Care Resource and Referral agency (CCRR) or local technical college (as part of department approved entry-level training), or the certification worker may train the operator / provider at the site visit by reviewing SIDS risk reduction materials. Certifiers may also allow the operator/provider to view a SIDS risk reduction video.
Wisconsin Technical College System
This page last updated 12/2018.