Licensing Specialist - Child Care

Licensing Specialist - Child Care

The licensing counselor is the authorized agent of the Department responsible for performing the day-to-day regulatory activities of the Child Care Licensing Program. The duties of the licensing counselor are many and varied and include serving as a technical advisor/consultant to prospective and existing child care providers, ensuring compliance with licensing standards by conducting regular inspections and those resulting from a complaint, and handling those inquiries not completed at the clerical level.

Each licensing counselor is expected to be fully familiar with those laws (state and federal), administrative rules, and policies that affect the Child Care Licensing Program. The licensing counselor will often be required to coordinate and collaborate with staff of other programs within the Department and with staff of other agencies that have regulatory authority relating to child care providers.

Examples of this include environmental health issues, inspections by community health nurses, fire inspections, resource and referral functions, background screening, and complaint referrals and investigations. The licensing counselor is responsible for maintaining a complete and accurate file for each licensed child care facility and family day care home (registered or licensed) assigned to his or her caseload. Finally, it is the responsibility of each child care licensing counselor to inform his or her supervisor in a timely manner of any issue that may be elevated to their level of responsibility.