§ 20-78-201. Title
This subchapter shall be known and cited as the “Childcare Facility Licensing Act”.
§ 20-78-202. Definitions
As used in this subchapter, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) (A) “Child Care Appeal Review Panel” or “panel” means an eleven-member body under the Department of Human Services which shall serve as a review and appeal body regarding licensure or registration actions. (B) (i) The panel shall consist of eleven (11) members, including the […]
§ 20-78-203. Penalties
(a) (1) Any person violating any provisions of this subchapter and any person assisting any partnership, group, corporation, organization, or association in violating any provisions of this subchapter shall be guilty of a violation and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) and not more than one hundred […]
§ 20-78-204. Injunction
When any person, partnership, group, corporation, organization, or association shall operate or assist in the operation of a childcare facility which has not been licensed by the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education of the Department of Human Services or has had the license denied, suspended, or revoked and has been ordered to […]
§ 20-78-205. Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education
(a) There is created the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education within the Department of Human Services. In creating the division, the General Assembly intends for the following to be maintained and enhanced: (1) Coordination of existing early childhood education and childcare programs; (2) Placement of children in quality early childhood programs which […]
§ 20-78-206. Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education — Rules
(a) (1) (A) The Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education shall promulgate and publish rules setting minimum standards governing the granting, revocation, refusal, and suspension of licenses for a childcare facility and the operation of a childcare facility. (B) In developing proposed rules, the division shall consult with the Secretary of the Department […]
§ 20-78-207. Declaratory judgments on licensing rules
Any rule promulgated by the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education under authority of § 20-78-206 or under any other childcare facility licensing law shall, at the suit of any interested person instituted in the Pulaski County Circuit Court, be subject to remedies provided by law for obtaining declaratory judgments. However, the division […]
§ 20-78-208. Unlicensed childcare facility unlawful
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, group, corporation, organization, or association to operate or assist in the operation of a childcare facility which has not been licensed by the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education of the Department of Human Services. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person to […]
§ 20-78-209. License — Religious exception — Definitions
(a) Any church or group of churches exempt from the state income tax levied by the Income Tax Act of 1929, § 26-51-101 et seq., when operating a childcare facility shall be exempt from obtaining a license to operate the childcare facility upon the receipt by the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education […]
§ 20-78-210. License — Application and issuance
(a) Any person, partnership, group, corporation, organization, or association desiring to operate a childcare facility shall first make application for a license for a childcare facility to the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education on the application forms furnished for this purpose by the division. (b) The division shall act on any application […]
§ 20-78-211. License — Provisional
(a) If the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education finds that an applicant for a childcare facility meets the licensing requirements for a childcare facility in the main and has a reasonable expectation of correcting deficiencies in a reasonable time, then the division may, in its discretion, issue a provisional license for a […]
§ 20-78-212. License — Nontransferability
(a) A license for a childcare facility shall apply only to the address and location stated on the application and license issued, and it shall not be transferable from one holder of the license to another or from one (1) place to another. (b) If the location of a childcare facility is changed or the […]
§ 20-78-213. License — Denial, revocation, or suspension
(a) The Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education shall have the power to deny, revoke, or suspend a license for a childcare facility if an applicant or licensee has failed to comply with the provisions of this subchapter or any published rule of the division, subject to appeal before the Child Care Appeal […]
§ 20-78-214. Inspections and investigations of childcare facilities and personnel — Child abuse
(a) The Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education or any other agency of the State of Arkansas which the division asks to assist it is authorized to make an inspection and investigation of any proposed or operating childcare facility and of any personnel connected with that childcare facility to the extent that an […]
§ 20-78-215. Child sexual abuse — Federal funds — Legislative intent
(a) (1) By the enactment of this section, it is the specific intent of the General Assembly to ensure that the State of Arkansas may qualify for the maximum amount of federal funds made available through Pub. L. No. 98-473 or any subsequent and related federal legislation enacted for use in reducing the incidence of […]
§ 20-78-216. Records and reports
The Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education may by published rules require that a licensed childcare facility keep and make available to the division records and periodic reports as shall be necessary to assist the division in determining whether the requirements of this subchapter and of the division’s rules regarding childcare facilities are […]
§ 20-78-217. Smoking prohibited — Legislative intent
(a) Whereas, health authorities have established that smoking is not conducive to good health and that children exposed to smoking face a potential health hazard, therefore, it is the intent of the Seventy-Fifth General Assembly to ban smoking in the physical confines of the day care centers licensed by the Division of Child Care and […]
§ 20-78-218. Administration of subchapter
The Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education shall continue to be the administrative agency to administer the provisions of this subchapter in accordance with the rules and standards for the licensing and operation of childcare facilities as promulgated by the division.
§ 20-78-219. Fines and penalties — Disposition of funds
(a) If any licensee fails to pay any monetary fine imposed as a civil penalty within sixty (60) days of the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education’s decision imposing the penalty, the amount of the fine shall be considered to be a debt owed the State of Arkansas and may be collected by […]
§ 20-78-220. Persons or facilities abusing juveniles in their custody
(a) If a juvenile is found to be abused or neglected due to the acts or omissions of a person other than the parent or guardian of the juvenile, the court may enter an order restraining or enjoining the person or facility employing that person from providing care, training, education, or supervision of juveniles of […]