Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Certification Policy Manual
Training in child abuse and neglect (CAN) laws and identifying, documenting, and reporting child abuse and neglect is a new requirement effective 9/30/19. A person who completed a non-credit, department-approved course called the Introduction to the Child Care Profession or Principles of Child Care Certification, or Health, Safety, and Nutrition, will have met the child abuse and neglect training requirement. An individual who completed Darkness to Light or Strengthening Families training after 7/1/10 would have also met the CAN training requirement. Additionally, if an individual has completed a credit-based course called Health, Safety and Nutrition, as part of an Associate Degree from a technical school, they have also completed training in child abuse and neglect.
Additional CAN training options include, but are not limited to, the following:
Free online CAN course offered by the Wisconsin Child Welfare Professional Development System
Review of resources available on the DCF website - Mandated Child Abuse and Neglect Reporters
If the CAN training is any form of independent learning that did not result in a certificate of completion, it is best practice to require using the Continuing Education Record - Independent Reading/Video Viewing form on the DCF website.
There is no hard edit in the WISCCRS system that will look for CAN training. However, if the pre-service training completed was anything other than the Introduction to the Child Care Profession or Principles of Child Care Certification, the CAN training should also be entered as “other” with a comment “CAN” to document the required training has been completed and verified by the certification worker.
This page last updated 11/2024.