The Washington State Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF) is in the process of updating the child care licensing rules.

From DCYF: “Through the work of an active Advisory Committee, 45 community meetings, 10 multi-day negotiated rulemaking sessions with teams of parents, providers, and licensors, and over 2000 public comments, these revised, updated WACS are well-informed by a large, engaged, and diverse group of people in Washington state who contributed their ideas, expertise and experience. ”

What you need to know: 

The new standards will go into effect August 1, 2019 and involve:

• Updating Licensing, Early Achievers and ECEAP requirements
• Creating a progression of standards and regulations between licensed child care, Early Achievers and ECEAP, so that the early learning system has a unified set of regulations that are easy to understand by providers in the field.

Are you a licensed childcare provider and want to get informed on the new changes? Check out these resources:

In Person Training:

In person Deep Dive sessions are being offered every month. Look them up (Here)

Online Training:

Can’t make it to an in person Deep Dive? Do an online training! (Here)

Guidebook:

A simplified guidebook to help you understand the new WACs – Foundational Quality Standards for Early Learning Programs. (English) (Spanish) (Somali)

Websites:

Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (Here)

Washington Communities for Children (Here)

Have Questions? Email: wacqanda@dcyf.wa.gov