FCCAM Business ToolKit

If you have a Licensed Family Child Care you are a “small business owner”.

To be able to provide education and care for children in a sustainable way you need to put the time in on the work of running a small business. You need to know the rules, set up the required portal accounts, have organized records, etc.

In operating a small business, you have the right to set your expectations for hours, fees, program offering, etc., as long as you are complying with the current Licensing Rule , and local community regulations.

FCCAM Business Toolkit includes information about the purpose, what is required by the current licensing rule, additional items providers have found support their business practice and linked resource samples. You are welcome to download shared FCCAM resources.

*** Ignore the Google Drive “Request Access” button when you try to download shared resources! *** FCCAM will not open their original resources to “editing”. ~ Download from the “File” section of the menu, or copy and paste right from the resource viewing. You will be able to adapt as you need from your personal copy.

The Toolkit, which composes a complete “Care agreement”, is divided into 3 sections:

  • Contractual Packet
  • Policy Handbook
  • Emergency Preparedness Plan

Consider how or where you will be composing and hosting your Care Agreement before you put the work into its development. You are allowed to have your Care Agreement online/icloud, website, hard copy, or a mix of these.

It is good practice to include additional information at the beginning of your Care Agreement, that covers such topics as: Confidentiality, Invalid Provisions, Modifications, and Waivers.

Considering Inclusion the current FCC Licensing Rule uses “Child’s Parent/Legal Guardian” to replace mother/father/family. Today’s families take many shapes and this language change covers the individual(s) with the legal responsibility for a child.

FCCAM is not rendering legal or tax advice with the sharing of the resources found in the “Business Toolkit”. If you require more specific assistance, consult a legal or tax preparation professional to represent you.

Maine DHHS/OCFS provides some sample forms that cover Licensing Rule requirements. Providers can add to these forms to meet their unique program.

Contractual Packet

A “Contract” is understood to cover what services money is being paid to cover. While you can make changes at any time to your contract, any change must be in writing and signed by both parties.

Your financial agreement is the only item that is legally enforceable in court.

The FCC Licensing Rule requires 2 copies of each client’s formal Financial Agreement with complete signatures on both. 1 copy is for parent(s)/legal guardian(s) to have and 1 for the provider’s records.

Current FCC Licensing Rule requires any record pertinent to a child be maintained for 3 years after their discharge from care. (This includes if you close your program.)

In addition to the Financial Agreement, the following items required by the current FCC Licensing Rule all require signatures, cover areas of potential liability, and need to be maintained in a child’s file. For those reasons FCCAM considers them all to compose the “Contractual Packet“:

1) Registration Form which is the required Child’s record.

2) Permission to Use a Child’s Likeness – Most think this is just about social media, but it includes any usage of a child’s likeness anywhere by you. That includes within your space for indicating cubbies, or a program’s friends bulletin board. Remember to include a Child’s Parent/Legal Guardian’s right to deny usage.

3) Release Authorization for Non-Guardian Pick-up – this can include the required emergency evacuation reunification

4) Authorization to Dispense Medication (prescription and non-prescription)

5) Emergency Medical Care release – include names and telephone numbers for child’s family physician and dentist. Many provider’s include this on the Registration form.

6) Health Record/ Immunizations – The State of Maine requires a copy of a child’s official immunization record be kept on site. Include any allergies and other health conditions with health plan on the health record.

  • Or a note from a doctor using the state form stating that medical contradictions exist.

7) Injury reports, including serious injury or death reports. As of 12/15/2021: Any injury or illness which requires medical attention from a physician or other medical personnel, including, but not limited to, an emergency room visit and/or hospitalization, including those that are the result of an accident involving transportation to or from a facility sponsored event; or any illness which is a notifiable condition, as identified by the Department is to be reported to your Child Care Licensing Specialist, and no longer needs to be reported to the Child Protective Services Intake line. *best practice is to document any injury where any kind of medical care was provided, such as bandaids, ice packs…. documentation is all about covering yourself.

8) Use of High-Risk Activity and Equipment Usage

9) Sunscreen application permission. *best practice is to include any applied substance – bug repellent, diaper creams, etc.

10) Field trips permission – this includes whenever children leave the premises, even walking. “Premises” is defined in Licensing Rule as your legal residence/property.

11) Child’s Parent(s)/Legal Guardian(s) Signature form – indicates that all legal guardians of the child have been informed of the Licensing Rule requirements and how your program has met them.

Program’s Policy Handbook:

Information about the operation of your program is required to be shared with the child’s parent(s)/legal guardian(s) at the time of admission. The clearer your policies and procedures are the less room for conflict and the more professional image your small business presents. The easiest way to do this is through your Policy Handbook.

Required by FCC Licensing Rule:

  • Unlimited Access (while child in attendance)
  • Communication practices
  • Child guidance practices
  • Child rights
  • Expulsion and suspension practices
  • Release of children to non-custodial caregivers
  • Mandated reporting
  • Management childhood illnesses
  • Serious injury and child death reporting
  • Safe sleep
  • Field trips and Transportation
  • High Risk activities
  • Ages program serves and licensed capacity
  • Hours of operation and daily schedule
  • Program focus/philosophy
  • Services program offers
  • Fees
  • Vacation/closure dates and policy
  • resources for developmental screenings
  • Interpretation for English Language Learners
  • Staff qualifications and trainings (if applicable)
  • Supervision of Staff/Interns (if applicable)
  • Swimming activities (if applicable)
  • Outside activity policy

While the required policies cover health and safety you might wish to cover additional practices, such as conflict resolution, bug repellent, clothing needs, in your handbook.

You can make changes at any time to your Policy Handbook. Changes in your policies do not need to be through written notice or require signatures. However, for any major change it’s best practice to get a signature indicating a Child’s Parent(s)/Legal Guardian(s)’ awareness of the change.

Current FCC Licensing Rule requires a “Staff Handbook”. The purpose of this handbook is to clearly outline practices and responsibilities. Staff handbooks often closely align with the material shared in the Parent Handbook.

  • Staff handbooks are not required to be shared with parents, only the staff.
  • For sole providers you can include the required items within your policy handbook and state you are closed when you as a sole provider cannot provide care.
  • FCCAM encourages sole providers to consider developing a Staff Handbook as part of your backup plan for emergency coverage in case of an unexpected event that would limit the direct care you could provider as a sole provider. Having the Staff Handbook in place could significantly support your small business sustainability.

Staff Contract/Handbook samples and additional Staff specific resources.

Emergency Preparedness Plan (Emergency/Disaster Response Plan)

  • Evacuation, including a designated relocation site and evacuation route
  • Lockdown of the residence and/or shelter-in-place
  • Procedures for notifying Parent(s)/Legal Guardian(s)
  • Procedures to address the needs of individual Children, including Children with special needs
  • Coordination with local emergency management officials
  • Guidelines for the continuation of child care in the period following the emergency or disaster

Emergency Preparedness Plan and Response Handbook for natural disasters and human-caused events sample. This sample includes handbook, parent letters, and reunification form.

Programs are required to hold monthly fire safety drills using a real alarm and alternate exit routes and 2 yearly emergency evacuation drills. 3 years of Safety Drill Records are to be kept on site.

Practice any of the other types of safety drills you think would support the children, such as shelter-in-place, reverse evacuation, medical emergency and lost child. Log any Safety Drill you practice.

Licensing has confirmed: Shelter-in-place drills of any kind that do not include evacuation, do not meet the emergency drill needed for rule compliance. The key word is evacuation. For evacuation drill:

  • Simulate it: practice the steps to gather and leave. Use the language specific to evacuation vs fire.
  • As part of your Emergency Preparedness Plan you should have multiple alternate sites you could evacuate to. It is recommended to have one you can walk to. For a walking site you could actually gather and leave your premises.
  • You are not required to transport children off the premises. If you do transport children as part of your program, you can practice transporting as part of your drill. If you do not transport, you can practice what loading everyone into a vehicle would be like in an emergency. Simulating this does not put any child in harms way as your vehicle is not running at any point. You just practice loading in, sitting still, and unloading. You could then pretend you are at the safe site and what would you do there?

SECTION 14. ENVIRONMENT AND SAFETY / P. Fire evacuation drills / 2. Fire drills must be conducted according to policies and procedures that are posted in each room utilized by Children. / It doesn’t have to be an exit map, it could be a posting of fire drill procedures (i.e. the steps that are to be taken during a fire evacuation). Either is acceptable. It is considered best practice to have a plan of your house with all exits and exit routes marked posted within your space(s) that children use. Marking where the posted position is. It is a quicker reference should a home need to be evacuated.

For providers who are FCCAM Class A members there is also the “Everything Notebook” to help you management records, licensing compliance, etc. You have access to both a digital and hard copy version through the Class A Members’ Only section.

For fcc providers who like checklists, we cannot guarantee that it is all inclusive, but here is the PLC’s best effort to support you:

Required Policy and Records Checklists:

  • General Policies and Records
  • Child Abuse/Neglect Policy
  • Child’s Record
  • Personnel Records
  • EPPlan – Emergency Preparedness Plan

You can modify any of these resources for your own use. If sharing with others, please be sure to credit FCCAM and link to the website page directly when possible. Please do not distribute any resources found here for profit.

If you are thinking about sharing your Care Agreement on a dedicated business website here is an example:

Bouncing Bubbles Child Care (private FCC provider)