Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual
The authority to impose a temporary license suspension is provided under Wis. Stat. § 48.715(3)(b), which provides for the suspension of the license for not more than two weeks. This enforcement action is not commonly issued, but may be appropriate under certain, specific circumstances.
A temporary license suspension is an enforcement action taken by the Department [delegated to, and hereafter referred to, as the Bureau of Early Care Regulation (BECR)] that temporarily suspends a license to operate a family or group child care center or day camp for not more than two weeks. This enforcement action requires that the licensee temporarily close the licensed facility and cease accepting any child for care during the license suspension period while the licensee makes necessary corrections to achieve compliance with the statute and/or administrative rule. A temporary suspension of the license is initiated when the statute and/or rule violation is serious enough to require immediate correction and there is a reasonable expectation that the correction can and will be achieved within a two-week time frame. Reopening of the center requires correction of the violations listed in the enforcement action notice, and approval by BECR. If the correction is not made within the two-week closure period, surrender of the license or a revocation is likely.
In a situation in which the temporary license suspension is needed to address the physical condition of a center or temporary staffing issues, the licensing manager/licensing supervisor can approve the two-week license suspension, and follow up by alerting the BECR director and Office of Legal Counsel of the suspension. In a situation involving an investigation that is reasonably expected to conclude in less than two weeks (such as a pending child protective service investigation), the BECR OLC attorney must be consulted and the BECR Director must approve issuance of the two-week license suspension.
The licensing specialist prepares a written notice of a temporary license suspension, using the standardized format titled Notice of Temporary Suspension of License, found on the BECR Intranet. A CFS-294, Noncompliance Statement and Correction Plan, identifying the noncompliance that prompted the temporary license suspension is attached to the notice. The notice is sent regular and certified mail, or hand-delivered, and provides written notice of the grounds for the temporary license suspension and an explanation of the process for appealing the action. Temporary license suspensions are subject to appeal through an administrative hearing, as provided for in Wis. Stat. § 227.44.
Once a license is temporarily suspended, BECR notifies other interested entities of the closure, verbally and through copies of the notice. Other agencies that have an involvement with the licensee must be informed of the temporary license suspension in case they may also need to take appropriate action, such as discontinuing Wisconsin Shares payments for that period of time.
This page last updated 10/2020.