Helpful Links

Center Regulations

Regulations for Family and Large Family Child Care Homes
 

Part III Administration and Organization
14. Notification to OCCL .

15. Governing Body

16. Insurance Coverage.

17. Telephones

18. General Human Resources and Personnel Policies

19. Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Requirements.

20. Positive Behavior Supports

21. Food Service Policy

22. Breast Feeding.

23. Center Parent or Guardian Handbook

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Part IV Staffing Requirements and Qualifications

24. Staff Qualifications

25. Substitutes, Volunteers, and Contracted Special Services Persons

26. Staffing

27. Ratios, Group Size, and Supervision

28. General Qualifications

29. Adult Health Requirements

30. Personnel Files

31. Owner’s File.

32. Orientation

33. Annual

34. Annual Professional Development Plan

35. First Aid and CPR Training

36. Staff Attendance

37. Staff Communication

38. Parent’s Right to Know

39. Enrollment.

40. Child Files

41. Child Health Appraisal..

42. Documenting Children’s Progress.

43. Children’s Attendance.

44. Observation.

From Delaware Department of Education

Review of Regulations: Request for Engagement of our ECE Community

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Delaware Department of Education (DDOE)’s Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) is working in collaboration Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children (deaeyc) on a statewide effort to review Delaware’s early care and education regulations for centers and family/large family child care.​

The first phase of this initiative - going through the end of December 2025 - will engage child care providers and community stakeholders in conversation about existing health and safety regulations. Findings will help DDOE ensure that regulations remain clear, practical, and aligned with their intent, which is to protect children’s health, safety, and well-being while in child care programs of all sizes and types in Delaware.

DDOE will go over the full timeline for its regulation review initiative at the November 18, 2025 DECC meeting.

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Please note: this is not an effort to deregulate child care in Delaware. This effort will maintain Delaware’s strong commitment to child health and safety. This first phase is not the agency’s public comment period; this is a provider-led effort before the agency drafts any revisions of the child care regulations in early 2026.

After December ends, deaeyc will continue engagement. The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) will use this information to revise its health and safety regulations prior to posting in the Registrar of Regulations for public comment.​

Purpose of this first engagement phase

• Health and Safety: Reinforcing standards that protect children’s well-being while in child care environments.

• Clarity and Consistency: Reducing duplication and simplifying compliance across regulations.

• Accountability and Support: Ensuring fair and effective monitoring and enforcement.

• Accessibility: Expanding language access and improving online and print materials.

This phase focuses on regulatory content within the authority of the Delaware Department

of Education, particularly in areas directly related to health, safety, child and staff

supervision, and physical environment.

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In this first phase, we will not yet address:

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• Ratios or group sizes

• Staff qualifications, training, or professional development

• Overnight care, school-age-only centers, or public school exemptions

• Deregulation of child care

Next, DDOE will engage our community on the topics of “ratios/group size and staff qualifications, training, or professional development” after this survey and focus group series concludes. You will receive similar communication from DDOE its partners for this next phase of the initiative at the January 2026 DECC meeting.​

Guiding Principles

• Transparency: Open sharing of drafts, updates, and findings.

• Collaboration: Engaging voices across Delaware’s early care community.

• Ensuring the process includes all child care program types and geographic regions.

• Practicality: Prioritizing regulatory clarity and real-world feasibility.​

Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children (deaeyc) will be sending information about how to get involved this week!

Project Time Line 

The Delaware Early Care and Education Licensing Review Project will unfold over a five-month period from October 2025 through March 2026, following a structured sequence of engagement, analysis, and reporting.

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The project begins in October 2025 with a planning and preparation phase, during which deaeyc will develop outreach materials, finalize feedback tools, and coordinate engagement logistics with DDOE and OCCL.

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In November and December 2025, deaeyc will lead online surveys and virtual focus groups designed to gather broad feedback from early care and education professionals, administrators, and families statewide.

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Findings will be analyzed and synthesized during December 2025 through January 2026, resulting in draft recommendations that reflect the field’s experiences with existing licensing standards, compliance practices, and regulatory clarity.

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In January and February 2026, deaeyc will facilitate public discussions—both in-person and virtual—to share the draft findings and collect final input to refine the recommendations.

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Finally, in March 2026, deaeyc will present a comprehensive report of findings to the Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL). These findings will inform OCCL’s formal regulation-writing process, culminating in draft regulations that will move forward to public comment later that month.