(a) The department shall do all of the following:
(1) Make information available to all licensed child day care providers, administrators, and employees of licensed child day care facilities regarding detecting and reporting child abuse and neglect.
(2) Provide training including statewide guidance on the responsibilities of a mandated reporter who is a licensed day care provider or an applicant for that license, administrator, or employee of a licensed child day care facility in accordance with the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 11164) of Chapter 2 of Title 1 of Part 4 of the Penal Code). The department shall provide the guidance using its free module or modules provided on the State Department of Social Services Internet Web site or as otherwise specified by the department. This guidance content shall include, but is not necessarily limited to, all of the following:
(A) Information on the identification of child abuse and neglect, including behavioral signs of abuse and neglect.
(B) Reporting requirements for child abuse and neglect, including guidelines on how to make a suspected child abuse report when suspected abuse or neglect takes place outside a child day care facility, or within a child day care facility, and to which enforcement agency or agencies a report is required to be made.
(C) Information that failure to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect, as required by Section 11166 of the Penal Code, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months confinement in a county jail, or by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine.
(D) Information that mandated reporting duties are individual and no supervisor or administrator may impede or inhibit reporting duties, and no person making a report shall be subject to any sanction for making the report, pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (i) of Section 11166 of the Penal Code. A supervisor or administrator who impedes or inhibits the duties of a mandated reporter shall be subject to punishment pursuant to Section 11166.01 of the Penal Code.
(E) Information on childhood stages of development in order to help distinguish whether a child’s behavior or physical symptoms are within range for his or her age and ability, or are signs of abuse or neglect.
(3) The department shall provide training, including information about child safety and maltreatment prevention using its free training module or modules specified in paragraph (2), or as otherwise specified by the department. This information shall include, but is not necessarily limited to, all of the following:
(A) Information on protective factors that may help prevent abuse, including dangers of shaking a child, safe sleep practices, psychological effects of repeated exposure to domestic violence, safe and age-appropriate forms of discipline, how to promote a child’s social and emotional health, and how to support positive parent-child relationships.
(B) Information on recognizing risk factors that may lead to abuse, such as stress and social isolation, and available resources to which a family may be referred to help prevent child abuse and neglect.
(C) When to call for emergency medical attention to prevent further injury or death.
(D) Information on how a licensed child day care provider, administrator, or employee of a licensed child day care facility might communicate with a family before and after making a suspected child abuse report.
(4) The department shall comply with the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act of 1973 (Chapter 17.5 (commencing with Section 7290) of the Government Code), which includes, among alternative communication options, providing the same type of training materials in any non-English language spoken by a substantial number of members of the public whom the department serves.
(b) (1) On or before March 30, 2018, a person who, on January 1, 2018, is a licensed child day care provider, administrator, or employee of a licensed child day care facility shall complete the mandated reporter training provided pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a), and shall complete renewal mandated reporter training every two years following the date on which he or she completed the initial mandated reporter training.
(2) On and after January 1, 2018, a person who applies for a license to be a provider of a child day care facility shall complete the mandated reporter training provided pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) as a precondition to licensure and shall complete renewal mandated reporter training every two years following the date on which he or she completed the initial mandated reporter training.
(3) On and after January 1, 2018, a person who becomes an administrator or employee of a licensed child day care facility shall complete the mandated reporter training provided pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) within the first 90 days that he or she is employed at the facility and shall complete renewal mandated reporter training every two years following the date on which he or she completed the initial mandated reporter training.
(4) The licensee of a licensed child day care facility shall obtain proof from an administrator or employee of the facility that the person has completed mandated reporter training in compliance with this subdivision.
(5) A licensed child day care provider, administrator, or employee of a licensed child day care facility who does not use the online training module provided by the department shall report to, and obtain approval from, the department regarding the training that person shall use in lieu of the online training module.
(c) Current proof of completion for each licensed child day care provider or applicant for that license, administrator, and employee of a licensed child day care facility shall be submitted to the department upon inspection of the child day care or upon request by the department.
(d) (1) The department shall issue a notice of deficiency at the time of a site visit to the licensee of a licensed child day care facility who is not in compliance with this section. The licensee shall, at the time the department issues the notice of deficiency, develop a plan to correct the deficiency within 45 days.
(2) A deficiency under this subdivision is not subject to Section 1596.890.
(e) A licensed child day care provider or applicant for that license, an administrator, or employee of a licensed child care facility is exempt from the detecting and reporting child abuse training if he or she has limited English proficiency and training is not made available in his or her primary language.
(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2018.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 86, Sec. 180. (SB 1171) Effective January 1, 2017.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018