North Carolina Child Care Commission Powers and Duties

Functions of a Commission

In general, commissions are statutory based bodies with the executive branch of government. These appointive bodies are granted specific authority, usually including the authority to adopt rules.

Powers and Duties of the Commission

The North Carolina Child Care Commission has the authority to establish rules for the licensing and regulation of child care centers and homes in North Carolina. This authority is identified in G.S. 110-88 and is summarized below:

To develop policies and procedures for issuing permits to child care centers and homes that meet all applicable standards.
To adopt applicable rules and standards based on the capacity of a child care facility.
To require inspections by and satisfactory written reports from representatives of local or State health agencies and fire and building inspection agencies and from representatives of the Department prior to issuing an initial permit to any child care center.
To require annual inspection by and satisfactory written reports from representatives of local and State health agencies and fire inspection agencies after a license is issued.
To make rules and develop policies for the implementation of Article 7, Chapter 110 including procedures for application, approval, annual compliance visits for centers and revocation of permits.
To adopt rules for issuing a provisional license that shall be in effect for no more than 12 consecutive months to a child care facility that does not conform in every respect with the standards established in Chapter 110 and the rules adopted by the Commission if the facility is making a reasonable effort to conform to the standards.
To make rules for administrative action against a child care center or child care home when the Secretary's investigation substantiates that child abuse or neglect did occur in the facility.* The type of sanction is to be determined by the severity of the incident and the probability of reoccurrence. The rules shall provide for written warnings and special provisional licenses.
To develop and adopt voluntary enhanced program standards which reflect higher quality child care than the mandatory standards established in Chapter 110. These enhanced program standards must address, at a minimum, staff child ratios, staff qualifications, parent involvement, operational and personnel policies, developmentally appropriate curricula, and facility square footage.
To adopt rules for issuing a temporary license that will expire in six months that may be issued to the operator of a new center or to the operator of a previously licensed center when a change in ownership or license occurs.
To adopt rules for child care facilities that provide care for children who are mildly sick.
To adopt rules regulating the amount of time a child care administrator will be on-site at a child care center.
To develop a procedure by which the Department furnishes the forms required to implement Chapter 110.
To adopt rules for child care facilities that provide care for medically fragile children.
To adopt rules establishing standards for certification of child care centers providing Developmental Day programs.
To adopt rules for programmatic standards for regulation of prekindergarten classrooms and to review and approve comprehensive, evidenced-based early childhood curricula with a reading component. These curricula shall be added to the currently approved "More At Four" curricula.

* The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services delegates authority for this function to the Division of Child Development and Early Education.

A copy of Chapter 110 can be located in Appendix A. Reference: G.S. 110-88