Section 441.110.6. Number of children.

The number of children in a child development home shall conform to the following standards:

         110.6(1) Limit. Except as provided in subrule 110.6(3), no greater number of children shall be received for care at any one time than the number authorized on the registration certificate.

         110.6(2) Children counted. To determine the number of children cared for at any one time in a child development home, each child present in the child development home shall be considered to be receiving care unless the child is described by one of the following exceptions:

            a.               The child’s parent, guardian, or custodian established or operates the child development home and either the child is attending school or the child receives child care full-time on a regular basis from another person.

            b.               The child has been present in the child development home for more than 72 consecutive hours and meets the requirements of the exception in paragraph 110.6(2)“a” as though the person who established or operates the child development home is the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian.

         110.6(3) Exception for emergency school closing. On days when schools are closed due to emergencies such as inclement weather or physical plant failure, a child development home may have additional children present in accordance with the authorization for the registration category of the home and subject to all of the following conditions:

            a.               The child development home has prior written approval from the parent or guardian of each child present in the home concerning the presence of additional children in the home.

            b.               The child development home has a department-approved assistant, aged 14 or older, on duty to assist the care provider, as required for the registration category of the home.

            c.               One or more of the following conditions are applicable to each of the additional children present in the child development home:

             (1)             The home provides care to the child on a regular basis for periods of less than two hours.

             (2)             If the child were not present in the child development home, the child would be unattended.

             (3)             The home regularly provides care to a sibling of the child.

            d.               The provider shall maintain a written record including the date of the emergency school closing, the reason for the closing, and the number of children in care on that date.

[ARC 2647C, IAB 8/3/16, effective 10/1/16]