The Department’s Residential Child Care Licensing (RCCL) unit seeks to protect children in residential care by licensing and providing oversight for a variety of child care facilities to ensure that facilities have the resources to provide for children in their care and keep them safe.

Through its Tracking Residential Applications, Incidents and Licenses System (TRAILS), RCCL also keeps stakeholders and the public informed of the quality of residential child care programs. Facilities requiring a license from RCCL include Child Caring Institutions, Child Placing Agencies, Outdoor Child Caring Programs, Children’s Transition Care Centers and Maternity Homes. Child Caring Institutions and Child Placing Agencies make up the majority of state licenses.

Child Caring Institutions (CCIs) are commonly referred to as group homes and include any institution, society, agency or facility that provides full-time care for six or more children through 18 years of age outside of their own homes. Child Placing Agencies (CPAs) are any institution, society, agency or facility which places children in foster homes for temporary care or in prospective adoptive homes for adoption. Outdoor Child Caring Programs (OCCPs) are CCIs that provide outdoor activities designed to improve the emotional and behavioral well-being of children in a wilderness or camp environment. Maternity Homes (MHs) are any place that receives, treats or cares for, within a six-month period, more than one pregnant woman whose child is born out of wedlock.

Top 5 reasons facilities received citations in SFY 2020

  1. Insufficient documentation of references in personnel files
  2. Incomplete service plans
  3. Insufficient or untimely health screenings of personnel
  4. Insufficient documentation of the involvement of the child’s guardian in the service plan
  5. Insufficient development, implementation and/or compliance with policies and procedures

By the Numbers | RCCL

  • 321 facilities were regulated by RCCL in SFY 2020
  • 9 new licenses were approved for child caring institutions
  • 1 new maternity home received licensure
  • 8 new licenses were approved for child placing agencies