COVID-19 (coronavirus) guidance for OECOSL stakeholders
The Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning continues to issue news and update guidance to partners and stakeholders in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Listed below is the guidance released to date by OECOSL. All FSSA COVID-19 announcements can be found here.
Grants
Child Care Closure Assistance Grant provides assistance to a program if a program has closed due to a confirmed COVID-19 case which requires closure of a classroom or facility.
Grants will be awarded to programs for the purpose of continuing to regularly pay child care staff and maintain operations for the time period of the required COVID-19 closure.
This grant should cover the cost of lost revenue during closure from children who are funded through private pay/cash pay.
Providers must have been temporarily closed during the time period of this grant because of a confirmed COVID-19 case of a person affiliated with the facility.
Providers must be eligible to receive CCDF and be a licensed center, family child care home, unlicensed registered ministry or legally licensed-exempt providers that are not schools (public or private) or Head Start/Early Head Start grantees in the state of Indiana.
- Documentation Required for Temporary Closure Assistance Grant Approval:
- If closure is due to positive staff, documentation must be provided of confirmed positive test with name, date and results on form
- All staff must have approved consent form/background check to work on file with the OECOSL
- If closure is due to positive child, name of child must be provided and attendance sheets must be submitted showing last date of attendance
For the purposes of this grant, total grant awards will be capped at $40,000 per closure period.
Note: The grant will be evaluated every two weeks to see if funding is still available to continue. Please check the website regularly!
- The Child Care Closure Assistance Grant application for the weeks of April 5, 2021– April 18, 2021 is now available and the application can be found by clicking here.
- Child Care Closure Assistance Grant application guidance
- Guidance for child cares - What to do when you have a COVID positive (December 11, 2020)
- Note: If a Child Care Closure Assistance Grant period has closed please contact Rene Withers at rene.withers@fssa.in.gov to request a review for an exception to apply.
- Please note: Temporary Assistance Grants have ended! The final grant period was for the weeks of July 13, 2020 – July 25, 2020.
- Reminders:
- All applicants can check status of applications by logging back into Submittable and following the instructions/tutorial posted!
- Please check your junk/spam emails for communications and approvals from Submittable
- Child Care Closure Assistance Grant applications cover a two week time period. Applications will be posted one grant period at a time, new grants will post once the prior grant closes. The grant period that is currently posted and subsequent grant periods will close on the dates listed on the chart below:
Grant period
Child Care Closure Assistance GrantGrant closes at 6 p.m. EDT Payment July 27, 2020 - August 8, 2020 August 11, 2020 August 19, 2020 August 10, 2020 - August 22, 2020 August 26, 2020 September 2, 2020 August 24, 2020 - September 5, 2020 September 8, 2020 September 16, 2020 September 7, 2020 - September 19, 2020 September 23, 2020 September 30, 2020 September 21, 2020 - October 3, 2020 October 7, 2020 October 14, 2020 October 5, 2020 - October 17, 2020 October 21, 2020 October 28, 2020 October 19, 2020 - November 1, 2020 November 4, 2020 November 11, 2020 November 2, 2020 - November 15, 2020 November 18, 2020 November 25, 2020 November 16, 2020 - November 29, 2020 December 2, 2020 December 9, 2020 November 30, 2020 - December 13, 2020 December 16, 2020 December 23, 2020 December 14, 2020 - December 27, 2020 December 30, 2020 January 6, 2021 December 28, 2020 - January 10, 2021 January 13, 2021 January 20, 2021 January 11, 2021 - January 24, 2021 January 27, 2021 February 3, 2021 January 25, 2021 - February 7, 2021 February 10, 2021 February 17, 2021 February 8, 2021 - February 21, 2021 February 24, 2021 March 3, 2021 February 22, 2021 - March 7, 2021 March 10, 2021 March 17, 2021 March 8, 2021 - March 21, 2021 March 24, 2021 March 31, 2021 March 22, 2021 - April 4, 2021 April 7, 2021 April 14, 2021 April 5, 2021 - April 18, 2021 April 21, 2021 April 28, 2021 April 19, 2021 - May 2, 2021 May 12, 2021 May 5, 2021 May 3, 2021 - May 16, 2021 May 26, 2021 May 19, 2021 May 17, 2021 - May 30, 2021 June 9, 2021 June 2, 2021 May 31, 2021 - June 13, 2021 June 23, 2021 June 16, 2021
- Reminders:
Guidance
- Updated child care guidance (March 18, 2021)
- Guidance for child cares - What to do when you have a COVID positive (December 11, 2020)
- COVID-19 revised update - Recorded PowerPoint presentation (December 11, 2020)
- Updated guidance regarding Paths to QUALITY™ ratings (November 17, 2020)
- Guidance for school age programs (September 30, 2020)
- School Age Exemption Guidance (August 21, 2020)
- COVID-19 nebulizer guidance (August 4, 2020)
- COVID-19 nebulizer guidance - Spanish
- Guidance for school age summer camp programs (May 22, 2020)
- TB testing guidelines (May 15, 2020)
- CPR certification and renewal (April 30, 2020)
- Extra clothing policy notification template (April 23, 2020)
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with the federal Offices of Child Care and Head Start, has released new guidance for Child Care settings during COVID-19. Check the link for specific guidance for child care on issues such as: This guidance can be found on the CDC website or at this link. This information is intended for child care programs that remain open, and should be used in conjunction with CDC’s guidance for administrators of child care programs and K-12 schools. This guidance does not supersede federal, state and local laws and policies for child care programs. (April 14, 2020)
- Social distancing;
- Child pick up and drop off procedures;
- Cleaning and disinfecting of toys and bedding;
- Safely caring for infants and toddlers; and
- Food preparation and meal service
- Updated guidance for child care providers (March 20,2020)
- Cleaning and sanitizing guidance (March 20, 2020)
Resources/Supplies
- Community resources (October 5, 2020)
- Resources for reopening or communicating changes (July 14, 2020 - Resources for programs as they reopen or need to communicate changes with families as well as resources for families as they return back to child care.
- Other local resources for providers (June 8, 2020) - Local resources including funding or other local supports offered at the county level.
- General supplies (May 1, 2020) - OECOSL will provide updates to general suppliers who have indicated they are able to provide various supplies.
- PPE supplies (April 30, 2020) - OECOSL has collected a list of supplier who have been able to provide specific supplies, such as sanitizers, thermometers and cleaning supplies. OECOSL will update this list as it continues to expand.
- Indy Chamber Rapid Response Hub (April 30, 2020 )- The Indy Chamber has created the Rapid Response Hub in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Rapid Response Hub houses a plethora of resources, information and supports for small business and is applicable to small businesses across the state.
- COVID-19 multi-language resource available from Luna (April 1, 2020)
- Talking to children about coronavirus (March 20, 2020)
Webinars
- Indiana’s CRRSA plan - Recorded webinar (March 25, 2021)
- COVID-19 revised update - Recorded PowerPoint presentation (December 11, 2020)
- COVID-19 updates - Recorded webinar (December 2, 2020)
- COVID-19 updates - Recorded webinar (October 2, 2020)
- Webinar presentation / Powerpoint
- COVID-19 updates - Recorded webinar (June 27, 2020)