OSSE, along with Strategic Educational Consulting, LLC, has developed a new emergency response plan template for providers to use in order to meet the new licensing regulations. This training session is designed to help participants create a comprehensive plan and complete the template step-by-step, including identification of potential threats near a child development facility, setting up an emergency alert system, and communicating with parents and first responders. In addition, the training will teach participants the latest strategies on what to do if a facility needs to lockdown, shelter-in-place or evacuate.

The purpose of the Child Care Disaster Response Plan (CCDRP) is to ensure that thousands of children in the District, who may be impacted by a disaster, can be reunited with family and referred to an alternate child care provider if needed while parents recover, rebuild or return to work after a disaster. The CCDRP plan meets the new Regulations for the Licensing of Child Development Facilities established by OSSE and enumerated in the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR) Title 5A Chapter 1, which were enacted to meet the statutory requirements of the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014. In addition, the emergency response sections of the licensing regulations were developed to comply with the 2012 International Fire Code (IFC), FEMA guidance for emergency plans and DEL’s standards for provider emergency response plans.

Please access the professional development catalog to register to attend one of the emergency response plan training sessions. In preparation for the training, please begin working on the sample emergency response plan template and appendix, which can be found below, and bring it with you on the day of the training.