June 21, 2010
Child Care Providers,

The Louisiana Department of Social Services (DSS) began a comprehensive revision of the Child Day Care Center Class A Minimum Standards in January 2010. The meetings were facilitated by licensing consultant, Judy Collins. The members of the Standards Revision Work Group represent a variety of child care programs and agencies. A draft of the regulations will be available for review by the end of June 2010 and will be posted on the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education Updates page of the DSS website.

We encourage you to provide written comments regarding the proposed standards via email to RegComments@dss.state.la.us. The Louisiana Department of Social Services will also conduct a series of comment gathering meetings in July 2010. Providers and the public will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed regulations. We have scheduled meetings across the state to gather your comments on the dates and times specified below:

City	Location	Address	Date	Time	For Information Contact
Alexandria	Learning Center for Rapides Parish	1410 Neal Kearby Blvd, Alexandria 71303	July 12 Monday	1:00 - 3:00 pm	Tracy Jones NSU Child & Family Network Alexandria 318-484-2184 x. 117
Ruston	Emmanuel Baptist Church	1200 Farmerville Hwy, Ruston 71270	July 13 Tuesday	9:00 -11:00 am	Gerry Binkley Children's Coalition Monroe 318-323-8775
Baton Rouge	LA Dept of Social Services Iberville Bldg Room 1-127	627 North 4th St., Baton Rouge 70802	July 14 Wednesday	9:00 - 11:00am and 1:00 - 3:00 pm	Effie Toliver Volunteers of America Partnerships in Child Care 225-926-8005
Lafayette	Clifton Chenier Center/Town Hall Auditorium	220 West Willow, Lafayette 70501	July 15 Thursday	10:00 -12:00 noon	Paula Granger First Years Lafayette 337-332-8551

There is no need to register in order to attend the meetings; however please be aware that the rooms have a limited capacity.

The Department of Social Services values your input. Licensing staff will provide you with cards to document your comments and will gather your comments. The meetings will not be a forum for interpretation of the regulations. Please remember to bring a copy of the proposed standards as copies will not be available at the meetings. Please be reminded that the DSS Web site is your resource for information regarding the standards and current information pertaining to licensing.

Thank you,

Angie Badeaux