SB 424

Under current law, the Department of Children and Families regulates child

care providers and is required to promulgate rules to carry out that function. Under

rules promulgated by DCF, a person hired to be an assistant child care teacher must

be at least 18 or 17 years old, depending on the qualifications the person meets. An

assistant child care teacher or school-age group leader who is at least 18 years old

and has completed the training required for the position may provide sole

supervision to a group of school-age children for up to 45 minutes if there is a

qualified school-age program leader or child care teacher on the premises, and an

assistant child care teacher may provide sole supervision to a group of children in

full-day centers for up to two hours during opening and closing hours and during the

center's designated naptime.

This bill modifies the DCF rules to lower the minimum age at which a person

may become an assistant child care teacher or school-age group leader from 17 to 16

and to lower the minimum age at which an assistant child care teacher or school-age

group leader may provide sole supervision to a group of children from 18 to 16. The

bill also removes the restrictions that a supervising assistant child care teacher may

provide sole supervision to a group of children in full-day centers only during

opening and closing hours and during the center's designated naptime and only for

up to two hours and that a supervising school-age group leader or assistant child

care teacher may provide sole supervision to a group of school-age children only for

up to 45 minutes.