Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual
Compliance monitoring is a very significant job function of the licensing specialist. Monitoring for the purpose of determining the center’s compliance with applicable administrative rules is achieved primarily through unannounced, on-site visits. Licensing specialists do not typically announce a monitoring visit except under certain circumstances such as the initial monitoring visit, visits to provide technical assistance or execute a license amendment, or when the visit is to review staff records that are kept at a location other than the child care center.
Monitoring activity standards establish the minimum number of on-site visits that licensing specialists are expected to make to individual programs during a specific time frame in order to monitor the program’s compliance status. The monitoring activity standards are divided into different levels of intensity, including:
Minimum Monitoring Plan
Moderate Monitoring Plan
Maximum Monitoring Plan
Probationary License Plan
Unlicensed Provider / Center Plan
The licensing specialist is responsible for assigning each program in his/her caseload to one of the monitoring plans based on the following:
The program’s size;
The program’s compliance history;
Whether the program has a probationary or regular license.
Monitoring may occur during any on-site visit conducted by the licensing specialist. This includes visits made for the following reasons:
Initial licensing;
License continuation;
Ongoing routine monitoring;
Verification that a violation(s) has been corrected (identified on a CFS – 294);
Complaint investigation;
Follow up to an incident or accident report;
Provision of technical assistance;
Enforcement action; and
License amendment.
1. Monitoring Activity Standards Defined
1.1. Use of the iPad-based Licensor Checklist Mobile Application
This page last updated 12/2018.