News Update

New guidelines for child care centers and family child care homes

The California Department of Education and the California Department of Social Services have published new guidelines for child care centers, preschools, and family child care homes that are still open. Under the new guidelines, all children in child care must be kept in small groups of under 10, and stay with the same teacher every day. Child care providers are encouraged to keep children 6 feet apart as much as possible, by arranging play spaces and furniture, or using yarn or masking tape to create individual spaces for children to play alone or in small groups.

Child care programs that contract with the Department of Education to serve low-income children should notify current families that they are to stay home unless they are classified as an essential worker, or at-risk populations as defined below. New children can be enrolled in subsidy programs if all parents or caregivers are essential workers and cannot complete their work remotely and have assets under $1 million dollars. They can also be enrolled if they have disabilities or special health care needs, are homeless, in foster care or under the care of child protective services, or have been deemed at risk of being neglected or abused.

Guidelines from the California Department of Social Services for all early learning programs are here, and guidelines for those programs that receive funding from the California Department of Education to serve low-income children are here: The guidelines are in place until June 30.


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