Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Certification Policy Manual
Occasionally, an operator may request to temporarily close their certification. When the operator needs to take a temporary break from providing care to children due to personal circumstances - such as a health condition or pregnancy, vacation, or construction - the operator may report this temporary closure using the Child Care Provider Portal or may contact the certification worker.
There are two types of closures:
Official Closure: these are closures the operator is required to report due to DCF 202 and/or child care subsidy requirements (closures lasting more than 14 days). It is best practice to draft a temporary closure notice, signed by both the operator and the certification worker for official closures.
Reported Closure: These are closures the operator may enter into the Child Care Provider Portal, but are not required under administrative rule to report.
Examples:
A certified operator closes for a 7-day vacation to Bahamas. This may be a reported closure, but does not warrant an “official closure.”
A certified operator closes for 2 months due to family member’s illness. This closure is made “official” because it is more than 14 days.
A certified operator closes for 10 days due to construction/damage to home. This closure may be designated as “official” because it directly relates to requirements under DCF 202.
See the WISCCRS User Guide – Changes for instructions regarding the “Closure” Module.
See the Wisconsin Shares Handbook for more information regarding requirements for providers to notify the subsidy agency of temporary closures under Chapter 14.8. Providers eligible to receive Wisconsin Shares, who plan to close for more than two weeks (14 days) are required to document and report the closure by submitting a Notice of Voluntary Temporary Closure to the local subsidy agency.
Monitoring During Temporary Closure
If an operator has been allowed to temporarily close due to a pending investigation, illness, remodeling or other reasons, the operator has agreed not provide any child care. Utilizing a temporary closure notice serves as an agreement between operator and certification agency that ensures no children are in care. See Module 9 - Sanctions for additional guidance regarding temporary closure.
When an operator is in temporary closed status the certification worker does not conduct on-site monitoring. The operator and certification worker are still required, however, to comply with background check law requirements that pertain to submitting BCRs for new/prospective household members (when applicable), reporting changes in household residents, etc.
In accordance with DCF 202.04 (3) (c) 5. A certification agency may enter into a temporary closure agreement with an operator that sets forth specific terms and conditions for the closure, not to exceed 365 days. An on-site monitoring visit must be conducted prior to reopening.
COVID-19 Update
See Module 7 - Monitoring, Section 1 - Overview for updated COVID-19 guidance.
Sometimes an operator may request only to be certified during certain months of the year. This may be a legitimate request due to the fact that the operator does not provide any care during the school year and may provide child care only during the summer months, for example. In some cases an operator may wish to be certified September through May because s/he is unable to comply with group size rules during the summer due to an increase in enrollment of children over age 7.
When making determinations regarding temporary closure and monitoring, keep the following in mind as a guide:
It is not best practice to allow a certified operator to “temporarily close” simply to avoid having to comply with certification standards. If a certified operator is “temporarily closed”, it is assumed s/he is not providing any child care. In such cases, the certified operator should either comply with the group size rule or withdraw the certification. If the operator is not providing child care during the summer months, the certifier should indicate months of operation in WISCCRS (August-June or September-June, for example). However, this would not prevent authorizations or payments for the entire month of August and June (in the example below).
Although the operator is "closed" and not providing care during summer months, background checks still need to be conducted even when the program is not in operation. BCRs must still be submitted for new/prospective household members age 10, and older or when a household member turns 10, and comply with reporting requirements, even when the center is not in operation. At renewal time, the agency could choose to create a category period that ends prior to summer (e.g. Begin date: 9/1/12 with End date: 6/10/13) and then add a 2nd category (Begin date: 9/1/13 with End date 6/10/14). This would prevent authorizations from being entered during the summer months when the provider is “closed” and not providing care. The system will allow this to be done at the time of renewal but not with an initial application.
This page last updated 05/2021.