DCFS Guidance for Licensed Day Care and License Exempt School Age Care: July 2022 Update

Published: July 6, 2022

Cover of DCFS Restore Illinois Day Care and License-Exempt School-Age Guidance showing silhouette figures of families and children playing under a tree.

July 2022 update: The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has updated the Restore Illinois Licensed Day Care Guidance and License Exempt School-Age Guidance. See below.

May 2022 update: The CDC has released an Operational Guidance for K-12 schools and early care and education programs to support safe in-person learning. The following frequently asked questions (FAQs) for school and ECE administrators, teachers, staff, and parents provide more detail about CDC recommendations in these settings.

Note: On February 28, 2022 the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) issued the following statement:

"Effective today, February 28, 2022, because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that masks are needed only in areas of high transmission, Governor JB Pritzker lifted the state’s indoor masking requirements, including the use of face coverings in day care settings. As has been the case throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, individual day care settings may choose to require precautions above and beyond state requirements, such as continuing to require indoor use of face coverings.

The CDC is now monitoring COVID-19 using Community Levels, which will align precautions for educational settings with those for other community settings.

The CDC is in the process of updating their recommendations for early childhood education and childcare programs. Illinois will work to update local guidance with more details based on these forthcoming recommendations and will provide an update as soon as available."

https://www.cdc.gov/.../schools.../child-care-guidance.html

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has updated the Restore Illinois Licensed Day Care Guidance and License Exempt School-Age Guidance. This newest update was released on January 21, 2021.

Note: On January 12, 2022, IDPH and ISBE released a revised public health guidance and FAQ document for K-12 schools.