In 9 months, the newly formed Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC) will administer most of our state’s early childhood programs and services. Child care licensing will transition from the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to the new agency and IDEC leadership has elevated licensing to one of its priority focus areas. This means that licensing will receive much needed updates to reflect the realities and experiences of child care educators and parents alike. As the department releases more information, Start Early will take a deeper dive into what these changes will mean for our child care landscape through a series of licensing blog posts.
Start Early’s Point-of-View on Illinois’s Current Licensing System
Our current licensing system is overly complicated and opaque, oftentimes leaving educators to navigate our complex system alone. Earlier this year, Start Early shared with IDEC leadership our concerns with the state’s current licensing system, along with recommendations for improvements.
Below, we’ve highlighted some of the most significant pain points within child care licensing that we heard from educators through our engagement with the field and through our own organizational experience as a provider.
- Background Check Delays: DCFS has not been able to establish adequate internal procedures to efficiently conduct background checks. Prospective employees often wait several weeks for a background check clearance, leaving many to accept another job offer outside of the early care and education field.
- Recommendations: Create a background check portal that is user-friendly and has multiple capabilities to streamline background check processing (e.g. allows electronic signatures, clearly marks required fields, tracks progress, allows clearance letters to be printed). To allow for the creation of substitute pools, we also recommend that applications have the flexibility to be tied to more than one facility license number. Lastly, we asked IDEC to include a method to contact the background check unit for inquiries.
- Inconsistencies Among Day Care Licensing Representatives (DCLRs): DCLRs’ knowledge and understanding of licensing policies and procedures vary, leading to an inconsistent application of licensing rules across programs.
- Recommendations: Conduct an audit of current DCLR training materials to understand where there are gaps and revise the orientation process. Streamline communication with DCLRs to ensure they are aware of and understand any changes to licensing policy or procedure.
- Lack of Communication/Transparency: DCFS lacks a communication strategy with directors on a regular basis or across a common platform. Changes in licensing policy are typically communicated through DCLRs, who as mentioned above, do not have a uniform understanding of licensing policy. Also, information is scattered across various webpages, which oftentimes contain broken links.
- Recommendation: Restart regional provider licensing forums as a space where educators may ask the Department questions. IDEC should also create a communication process to ensure that all educators receive the same information and understand how any changes to licensing policy should be applied. IDEC should create a central repository where all licensing-related documents are available to view and post facility monitoring reports in plain language.
- Lack of Educator Support: Educators and center directors are often left to navigate complex licensing policies, with little-to-no support from DCFS. New providers wanting to enter the field are often overwhelmed with licensing standards.
- Recommendation: IDEC should create policy interpretation guides, visuals, and resources that explain licensing policy in plain language, so licensing standards are easy for educators to understand and apply. Also, IDEC should translate all materials and designate a few Spanish speaking staff to offer technical assistance and support to Spanish speaking educators.
