Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Certification Policy Manual
In response to the new federal requirements, 2017 Wisconsin Act 59 was enacted on September 21, 2017. The most significant change in the certification law, s. 48.651 stats., requires certified child care operators and other caregivers approved to work in certified settings to complete department-approved pre-service training including infant/child CPR training. The CPR training must result in a certificate of completion. If the certificate of completion does not have a date specifying the length of time for which it is valid, the CPR training must be renewed every year. The time spent renewing cardiopulmonary resuscitation training may be counted towards the required continuing education hours.
Effective 9/1/21 it is the responsibility of the certification worker to verify compliance with CPR renewals by verifying a valid/current CPR certification by the expiration date. This means that the certification agency may need to complete a “desk review” to ensure information is verified. If during the BRO certification review the information is not current, this may result in an agency non-compliance/finding and the information will need to be gathered and updated as a part of the Agency Review Correction Plan.
Keep in mind, some training agencies, like the American Heart Association, state that “course completion cards are valid for two years through the end of the month during which the course completion card was issued.”
There may be other training agencies that have same or varied interpretation of “valid through” dates. In some cases, a local CPR trainer may conduct an initial CPR training at the beginning of the month, but then not offer a renewal training until the end of the month. So a small gap in renewal of CPR training does not always need to result in a non-compliance, and certification workers may exercise reasonable regulation/discretion in instances such as these.
See section 8.1 – When to Cite and Document Violations for additional guidance regarding discretion.
A suggested list of Department of Health Services (DHS) approved CPR trainings is located on the DHS website. Online or in-person classroom CPR training is acceptable as long as the training results in a certificate of completion. Instruction in the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) is not required for certified operators. It may be helpful for an applicant for certification to understand, however, that although certification does not require CPR training through a DHS-approved agency and AED, licensing does require a DHS-approved CPR training and AED, in the event they plan to pursue family child care licensing.
Effective 4/1/18 all new applicants for certification must complete pre-service training within three (3) months from the date provisional certification is granted. New applicants meeting pre-service training requirements can be granted regular certification. A new provisional operator who does not complete pre-service training within three (3) months from the date provisional certification is granted, is out of compliance and shall be issued a Non-compliance Statement. If the new provisional operator does not complete department-approved pre-service training, including CPR training, by the provisional category expiration date (not to exceed six (6) months) the certification ends.
Existing providers (those approved to work in certified settings prior to 4/1/18) who are not substitutes, but work with the operator to provide care and supervision of children, and providers who replace the operator as the primary provider, were to complete department-approved pre-service training by 10/1/18. New providers shall complete pre-service training within three (3) months after employment or volunteer work commences starting 4/1/18.
A substitute is someone who replaces the certified child care operator on an infrequent pre-arranged or planned basis. A substitute who replaces the certified operator on an infrequent, pre-arranged basis is not required to meet pre-service training requirements until the substitute has worked for 240 hours. If there is no regularly scheduled provider other than the “substitute” the substitute is considered the “provider” and must meet pre-service training requirements within three (3) months after employment or volunteer work commences.
Starting 4/1/18, pre-service training documentation, including CPR training, shall be uploaded in WISCCRS in the Individuals Module for certified family and in-home operators. The CPR training must be entered in WISCCRS, but the value did not exist until July 2018. Prior to July 2018, the certification worker had to enter the initial CPR training as “Other” with a comment “CPR”. Renewals of CPR training must also be entered as "CPR" rather than continuing education because the system will look for valid CPR training at certification.
Note: When granting recertification WISCCRS will look for a current CPR training date. If a current CPR training is not entered, the certification worker will not be able to grant certification. For this reason, continuing education, that is CPR training, shall be entered with a training type “CPR” and a comment “continuing education.”
If an existing certified operator (those certified prior to 4/1/18) had previously completed CPR training and the training is already entered in WISCCRS as “continuing education” or “other” it is recommended the certification worker update the record by re-entering the training previously completed as “CPR” training type. If an older training is entered as “other” or “continuing education” the system won’t recognize it as being a "current" training.
This page last updated 03/2022.