Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual
Administrative rules require that the licensee’s self-report must be made within 24 hours of the licensee becoming aware of the medical evaluation, or 24 hours after the death of the child, or 24 hours after the animal injury. If medical evaluation was sought by the parent or guardian after the child left the center, the licensee must inform BECR within 24 hours of being informed of this by the parent or guardian.
The licensee may initially report an incident, accident, injury or death by telephone, email, fax or in person. When this notification is received by BECR within 24 hours of the event, it is a timely report. In all instances, the licensee must submit a written report to BECR within five (5) business days of the incident. The BECR form, Incident Report - Regulated Child Care is available on the DCF Internet for this purpose. Licensees may instead use their own reporting form for reporting such an event.
The BECR staff person taking a self-report in person or over the phone should remind the licensee that BECR must receive a written report within five (5) business days of the incident. If a program associate receives the telephone call, s/he should then forward the call to the appropriate licensing specialist, telling the licensee to leave a detailed message if the licensing specialist does not answer the phone.
If the report involves the death of a child in care from any cause, the person receiving the call must immediately inform the appropriate licensing specialist and the regional licensing manager/licensing supervisor. (See section 7 Responding to a Death Report.) The licensing manager/licensing supervisor reports a child's death in care and the circumstances related to the death to the BECR director, the DCF Communications Office and others via email. Deaths in care are documented as critical incidents and may require follow up from DCF central office staff.
Information contained in the Incident Report - Regulated Child Care form includes:
Identifying information on the center, child and parent
Incident date, time and location
Witness names
A description of the incident, nature and extent of injury
If a toy was involved and if so, name and type of toy
Activity the child was engaged in
How the parent was notified
Medical information and treatment
Area for the center representative to sign and date the form.
This page last updated 10/2020.