Posted: 8/20/03

New fees for child care providers

The Washington County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 5 approved a request from the Community Services Department to allow the county to charge background check fees for legally non-licensed or licensed family child care providers and fees for licensing inspections of family child care providers. The 2003 Minnesota Legislature changed the licensing act allowing counties to charge fees for conducting background checks of legally non-licensed providers, as well as licensed family child care providers. This fee is not to exceed $100 annually. Legal non-licensed providers can provide care to one unrelated family for any length of time and/or children of relatives.

The Legislature requires counties to complete background studies on all legal non-licensed providers. The Legislature also allowed counties to charge a fee for inspections of licensed family child care providers. This fee is not to exceed $150 annually. The county has approximately 570 family child care providers, typically licensing 75-80 new providers each year. Of the 570 providers, approximately half are re-licensed in a given year Of the legal non-licensed providers, 180 new providers start offering care each year, which requires a background check. Beginning Sept. 1, any new legal non-licensed and licensed family child care providers will be charged a fee of $100 for the background check and $150 for inspections of new and re-licensing family child care providers.

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