After weeks of often contentious back-and-forth with child care providers, the Mississippi Department of Health is walking back its revised regulations for the industry.
External affairs and media relations director Greg Flynn confirmed the news, explaining that MSDH is still working on the proposed changes, and that they will not present them in the near future. “The topic will not be presented at the Board of Health meeting in April,” he stated.
Nicole Barnes, director of the Child Care Licensure Bureau, stated that, “Once the edits have been finalized, we will plan to share those accordingly with the child care advisory council.”
According to an MSDH spokesperson, MSDH leadership retracted the revisions on Feb. 28. It’s the same day the Division of Early Childhood Care & Development’s Child Care Payment Program Advisory Council was supposed to hold an ad hoc meeting going over the revisions. The meeting was cancelled after the announcement.
This update comes after months of upset among child care providers over revisions. Initially, MSDH filed to revise child care regulations last November. Child care providers criticized the revisions for being too restrictive and impractical. They also criticized the licensing agency for its rollout of the revisions.
MSDH said these changes were necessary to follow the Child Care and Development Fund Block Grant Act’s health and safety requirements. They did not initially consult the Child Care Advisory Council or the Small Business Regulatory Committee.
The agency maintained that it followed Mississippi Administrative Procedures Act. However, some child care providers said they violated state law by not notifying them of the proposed changes within three days of filing them, as well as being generally inconsiderate of providers’ needs.
“We are all committed to providing high-quality care for children in the state of Mississippi and want to partner with the Health Department to ensure their health and safety is our first priority,” said Lesia Daniel, owner of Funtime in Clinton and member of the advisory council.
Roberta Avila, a member of the Child Care Advisory Council, said there needs to be more transparency and consideration for providers during revision changes. “As a member of the Council I want to work in cooperation with the agency,” she said. “I hope we can start anew with the agency to ensure that all licensed providers, who will be affected by any changes in the regs, are informed about the process and will have an opportunity to give timely input to the agency.”
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