OCDEL Releases Announcement C-21-01 Waiver of Child Care Facility Regulations

Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) Bureau of Certification Services and Bureau of Early Learning Policy and Professional Development has released Announcement C-21-01: Waiver of Child Care Facility Regulations. This announcement replaces Bulletin 00-11-01, Waiver of Child Care Facility Regulations and informs child care center, group child care home, and family child care home operators of the procedures for requesting a waiver of the Department of Human Services (DHS) regulations (see 55 Pa. Code §3270.13, §3280.13, and §3290.25, relating to waivers).

A waiver is a written statement from DHS that excuses an operator from meeting a specific regulation and substitutes another standard which the operator must meet. The substituted standard has the same legal effect as the regulatory standard. Granting a waiver is discretionary. A waiver is granted to a specific operator for a specific child care facility location and cannot be transferred to a different operator or location. A waiver is not a substitute for correcting regulatory noncompliance cited as the result of an inspection.

The Announcement contains details on the Operator Responsibilities, Inspection While Waiver Request is Pending, Monitoring Requirements, Operator’s Right of Appeal, and next steps. For details, please see the Announcement C-21-01: Waiver of Child Care Facility Regulations.