Public Policy

All Providers must achieve a Maryland Excels level to take Purchase of Care children. You can find information at www.marylandexcels.org
Fingerprinting:Fingerprinting Processing and Updates

Maryland’s Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) is able to begin accepting fingerprints for the federal rap-back program. This rap-back will negate the need for a new background check every five years. To minimize the financial burden, the Office of Child Care will be picking up the cost of the
background checks through a reimbursement procedure. The schedule for fingerprinting and reimbursement is indicated in the chart below.

Providers who fail to meet the new background check requirements will not be allowed to be left with children unsupervised.

To make certain the background clearance systems can handle the influx of applications at the fingerprinting sites located statewide (https://www.dpscs.state.md.us/publicservs/fingerprint.shtml (link is external)), we are asking that child care providers follow the procedures below:

Anyone fingerprinted after Sept. 21, 2017 does not need to submit new prints. You are already enrolled
in the new system.

New providers and providers not fingerprinted within the last 5 years should begin the new fingerprinting process immediately.
Existing providers fingerprinted within the last 5 years should be fingerprinted no later than the dates listed below to get enrolled in the new system:

Facility Name/Family Provider
Last Name Prints Taken by: Invoice Due:
A-D 12/1/17 2/1/18
E-J 2/1/18 4/1/18
K-Q 4/1/18 6/1/18
R-U 6/1/18 8/1/18
V-Z 8/1/18 10/1/18

Maryland residents fingerprinted more than 5 years ago will need to get re-printed for FBI and Maryland in addition to getting criminal background checks from any other state(s) in which they lived during the past 5 years.
Non-Maryland residents fingerprinted more than 5 years ago will need to be re-printed for FBI and their current state of residence and any other states in which they lived during the past 5 years.

The state will reimburse the costs for fingerprinting if the following conditions are met for CURRENT staff:

Child Care Centers and Letter of Compliance Facilities–
Submit a copy of your current staff roster (aides, teachers, directors, substitutes, volunteers or any other staff with access to children) with matching receipts from the fingerprinting organization and an invoice to: TJ Bennett, DECD, 200 W. Baltimore Street, 10 th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201 and we will reimburse the CENTER. The center will be responsible for reimbursing individual staff. Invoices must have the name of the child care facility, license number, tax ID number, telephone number, email address, and mailing address. We will provide a template invoice on the DECD website to ensure all required information is provided for accurate payments.

Family and Large Family Child Care Homes –
Submit an invoice indicating who was fingerprinted (providers, co-providers, family child care home teachers, aides, additional adults, substitutes, volunteers, residents of the home over the age of 18), along with the matching receipts for each person to: TJ Bennett, DECD, 200 W. Baltimore Street, 10th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201 and we will reimburse the PROVIDER. The provider will be responsible for reimbursing the other individuals. Family child care provider invoices must contain the provider name, registration number, the social security or tax ID number, telephone number, email address, and mailing address. We will provide a template invoice on the DECD website to ensure all required information is
provided for accurate payments.

Informal child care providers –
Submit an invoice indicating who was fingerprinted (provider, residents of home over the age of 18), along with the matching receipts for each person to: TJ Bennett, DECD, 200 W. Baltimore Street, 10th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201 and we will reimburse the PROVIDER. Informal child care provider invoices must contain the provider name, the social security number, telephone number, email address, and mailing address. We will provide a template invoice on the DECD website to ensure all required information is provided for accurate payments.

We will not reimburse the fingerprinting costs for new staff hired after a) the federal rap-back system goes live or b) invoices submitted after the individual due dates in the chart above.

For providers who must request criminal history/child protective services (CPS) information from a state other than Maryland (if they resided in a State other than Maryland within the previous 5 years), please follow that state’s process for requesting the criminal history and CPS information. We will reimburse the costs associated with these checks as long as the conditions above are met.

NONCRIMINAL JUSTICE APPLICANT’S PRIVACY RIGHTS

BILLING STATEMENT FOR FINGERPRINTING REIMBURSEMENT

Additions to First Aid Kit:

Please note that a few of these items have not been required previously. These new items include: paper towels, CPR mask/face shield, and gloves.

Heidi Deitchman wrote in an email: “It was effective immediately. Most people already had the CPR mask from a few years ago. If they did not we were to give those people a discussed and they were to order it.”

MSDE ANNOUNCEMENT

Guide to Regulated Child Care
Click here