Reopening of Certified Child Care Facilities Temporarily or Permanently Closed Due to COVID-19

The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning, Bureau of Certification Services, has released Announcement C-20-13, Reopening of Certified Child Care Facilities Temporarily or Permanently Closed Due to COVID-19. The Announcement provides protocols on the reopening of certified child care facilities temporarily or permanently closed due to COVID-19; and to announce the Department of Human Services’ (Department’s) renewal inspection process for child care facilities that temporarily closed due to COVID-19, whose licenses have not expired, and that plan to reopen.

Since the issuance of the Disaster Proclamation, some child care facilities’ certificates of compliance expired during the temporary closure. The Department’s intent is to support child care facility efforts to reopen to the greatest extent possible, and to continue to support their efforts to provide a safe and healthy environment for the children they serve.

Any child care facility that has temporarily closed due to COVID-19, plans to reopen, and has a certificate of compliance that is expired as of Nov. 30, 2020, or thereafter, will be considered permanently closed unless they contact the regional office to communicate the facility’s plan to reopen and follow the protocols outlined below. The facility must contact the regional office before Dec. 11, 2020, or within 10 days prior to the expiration of the certificate of compliance, whichever is later.

The protocols for reopening of certified child care facilities temporarily or permanently closed due to COVID-19 address different circumstances that may apply to child care providers and steps providers must take to reopen a facility that is temporarily or permanently closed and plan to reopen.

For additional details, please see the Announcement C-20-13, Reopening of Certified Child Care Facilities Temporarily or Permanently Closed Due to COVID-19.