Licensees are required to follow DELACARE: Regulations for Early Care and Education and School-Age Centers to operate a licensed center.

DELACARE: Regulations for Early Care and Education and School-Age Centers Effective 06/10/2022

These forms are used for centers and will help you to follow DELACARE regulations.
  1. Accident or Injury Report
  2. Adult Health Appraisal
  3. Annual Parents Right to Know Notice Log Kent and Sussex
  4. Annual Parents Right to Know Notice Log New Castle
  5. Center Renewal/Relocation License Application
  6. Center Staff File Checklist
  7. Child Abuse Report Law Acknowledgement
  8. Child Abuse and Neglect Recognition and Reporting Procedures
  9. Child File Checklist
  10. Child Health Appraisal
  11. Child Information Card
  12. CPR and First Aid Training Resource List
  13. Daily Attendance Form
  14. Diabetes Medical Management Plan
  15. Diaper Changing Procedure
  16. Emergency Phone Numbers
  17. Emergency Plan
  18. Employee Declaration and Drug Alcohol Prohibition Acknowledgement
  19. Infant Daily Log
  20. Infant Feeding Schedule
  21. Lesson Plan Template
  22. Medication Administration Record – Emergency or as Needed Use
  23. Medication Administration Record – Routine or Limited Use
  24. Menu Evaluation Form (Kent and Sussex)
  25. Menu Evaluation Form (NCC)
  26. Monthly Fire Prevention Inspection Checklist
  27. Parent/Guardian Handbook for Centers
  28. Parents Right to Know Notice-Kent and Sussex Counties – for tours
  29. Parents Right to Know Notice-New Castle County – for tours
  30. Professional Development Plan
  31. Release of Employment History
  32. Required Parent Permissions (Kent and Sussex)
  33. Required Parent Permissions (NCC)
  34. Sample Authorization for Care by Non-Intravenous Injection
  35. Sample Release and Waiver of Liability for Non-intravenous Injection
  36. Service Letter (2)
  37. Staff Handbook for Centers and LFCCH
  38. Staff Orientation Record
  39. Supervised Experience Form
  40. Training Record for Staff Member Trained in Day-To-Day Operations
  41. Variance Request
  42. Yearly Review of Safe Sleep Practices
  43. Training Resources for Child Care Centers

If you wish to hire staff, create a free job posting. Your posting will automatically be deleted after 4 weeks.

Information Sessions

If you are interested in opening an Early Care and Education or School-Age Center, please review the upcoming training calendar for Centers. Once you decide on a day and time, sign up for a Center Information Session to be registered or call 302-892-5800 in New Castle County or 302-739-5487 in Kent and Sussex Counties.

Community-Based Training

Attention community-based trainers: in an effort to increase the amount of trainings offered to the child care provider community, you can now post your upcoming trainings on this site. Please enter the required information on the Post a Community-Based Training form or call 302-892-5800 in New Castle County or 302-739-5487 in Kent and Sussex Counties.

View New Castle County community-based training
View Kent County community-based training
View Sussex County community-based training

Quality-Assured Training

Taking quality-assured training is the best way to make sure the training is appropriate, meaningful, includes best practices, and is taught by a highly competent instructor. Please visit DIEEC Professional Development, Delaware Professional Development Now, or Professional Pursuits to view quality-assured training.

In order to give medication to children, child care staff members must be certified to administer medication. There are two ways to become certified.
    1. Complete the training and certification online by completing the following steps:
      • Go to the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC) web site.
      • Next log in or create an account.
      • Go to the Professional Learning tab and click online learning.
      • Click the link for DEPDNow online training opportunities.
      • Scroll down to Administration of Medication Certification. Click Register Now on the right.
      • On the registration received tab, click on the blue Administration of Medication Certification and this will take you to depdnow.com. To access training, click on “My Profile” which will take you to your Dashboard. Click Training Title on the Dashboard then click Here to access course.
      • Log into DEPDNOW with the same email and password that you used for DIEEC.
      • If you have issues, please contact (888) 882-5294 for assistance.
    2. Self-study using the following Administration of Medication Self-Study Guide and submit a registration form to be given a date to take the test.

Due to COVID-19, the Office of Child Care Licensing is not conducting in-person testing. Once the State returns to normal operating procedures, you will be able to register for a test.

If you are planning to administer non-intravenous injections, additional training as stipulated by the child’s health care provider is required. The following forms will also need to be completed: Diabetes Medical Management Plan, Sample Release and Waiver of Liability for Non-intravenous Injection and Sample Authorization for Care by Non-Intravenous Injection.

Here is information to guide you through the process of selling or buying a center.

If you are planning on selling or purchasing an existing center, please contact the licensing specialist for that facility. The buyer will need to attend a center orientation and complete the application process. Once that process is complete, letters stating the date and time of the change in ownership are to be provided to the Office of Child Care Licensing from both the applicant and the owner, confirming the change of ownership. Once an on-site compliance review has been conducted, the new applicant will be issued an initial-provisional license, assuming the facility is in compliance with DELACARE Regulations.

If you are looking to reduce the amount of experience required for certain center positions, you will need to register in advance.

Those working toward qualifying as an early childhood curriculum coordinator, early childhood teacher, early childhood assistant teacher, or school-age site assistant are now able to reduce the experience required by half by participating in supervised experience. Please complete this registration form and use the Supervised Experience Form to document the supervised experience. After the required time has passed and the documentation is completed, send the Request for Supervised Experience to: DSCYF/Office of Child Care Licensing, 3411 Silverside Road, Concord Plaza, Hagley Building, Wilmington, DE 19810 to Susan Lang’s attention.

Once it is received and approved, the staff will be issued a supervised experience certificate. This certificate may be sent to DEEDS and used to qualify for the above listed positions, assuming the staff meets the education requirements.

Grants and other funding are available to improve the quality of care or to purchase necessary items.

Capacity Grant

The Capacity Grant provides funding for quality improvement technical assistance strategies and grant resources to licensed child care programs to increase the supply of child care in areas where it is limited. Please visit Capacity Grant to apply.

The Child and Adult Care Food Program and Purchase of Care are two programs that help improve low income families’ access to quality child care homes and centers.

The Child & Adult Care Food Program

The Child & Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) improves the quality of care for children by making it more affordable for many low-income families. Through CACFP, more than 3.3 million children receive nutritious meals and snacks each day. See how CACFP can make a difference in the quality of care! As a participating program, you will become part of a nationwide effort to improve children’s nutrition and will be teaching those children the foundation of a healthy lifestyle.

The following three agencies Catholic Charities, Delaware Parents Association, and Children and Families First manage the CACFP for child care centers, large family child care homes, and family child care homes in Delaware. Please contact an agency for more information about joining the CACFP.

Purchase of Care

Purchase of Care (POC) is a program that helps low-income families pay for their child care.
As a provider, you have the option of contracting with the Division of Social Services (DSS) to care for children enrolled in POC. Becoming a POC provider means that you will accept DSS payment rates and will not charge parents any additional fees, other than those allowed in the contract.

If you do not want to come under POC contract and you are a licensed provider you can still accept POC children via the Self-Arranged payment option. This means the POC parent pays your full rate directly, but is only reimbursed the POC rate portion by DSS after you sign their monthly receipt for services.

If you are interested in contracting with POC, please contact the DSS Child Care Monitor for your county.

New Castle County: 302-255-9670
Kent County: 302-739-4437
Sussex County: 302-856-5569

Managing Infectious Disease in Childcare Settings 4th edition.

These websites may be used to enhance your program, provide you with information, and help answer questions you may have.