Youth Camps receiving Purchase of Care are required to follow DELACARE: Regulations for Youth Camps.

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

If you are interested in opening youth camp, please review the upcoming training calendar. Once you decide on a day and time,  sign up for a Youth Camp Information Session to be registered or call 302-892-5800 in New Castle County or 302-739-5487 in Kent and Sussex Counties.

In order to give medication to children, youth camp staff members must be certified to administer medication. 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.

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.

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 CharitiesDelaware Parents Association, and Children and Families First manage the CACFP for child care centers, large family child care homes, family child care homes, and youth camps 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.