Child Care COVID Response & Preparedness Plan

Using This Build-A-Plan Tool to Develop Your COVID-19 Preparedness & Response Plan

With the spread of COVID-19, child care providers are being asked to develop and implement new health and safety protocols to ensure children, families, and staff members are as safe as possible. This "Build-A-Plan Tool" was designed to help your program meet new state requirements, follow best practices and recommendations to limit the spread of COVID-19, and make the decisions that are right for your staff and families and feasible within your specific program context.

LARA Requirements and Guidance
On May 21, 2020 the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) released their Guidelines for Safe Child Care Operations During COVID-19. All child care providers must develop and implement a COVID-19 preparedness and response plan consistent with these guidelines. The response plan must be available at your site/company headquarters and made available to families and staff. Your plan should include:

How you will monitor symptoms of COVID-19.
How your programs practice social distancing, as developmentally appropriate.
How you will ensure hygiene (including regular cleaning and disinfecting).
How you will use safety equipment (including PPE, when appropriate).
Communication protocol for families to report symptoms or a positive test and policies on when children will be excluded from care.
Isolation procedure in case of symptoms or confirmed cases onsite.
How to maintain required staff to child ratios in the event that a staff member(s) becomes ill.

The Build-A-Plan Tool will help you meet all these requirements in a way that makes sense for your individual program. All of the relevant requirements and recommendations from LARA as well as the CDC and other sources have been integrated into this tool to save you time and effort.