Definitions Relating to Child Care Facilities

PURPOSE: This rule defines the terms used throughout this chapter. (1) The following definitions shall be used in interpreting the rules of this chapter: (A) Adult is an individual eighteen (18) years of age or older; (B) Caregiver is the facility director or other child care staff whether they are paid or volunteering; (C) Child care is care of a child away from his/her own home for any part of the twentyfour- (24-) hour day for compensation or otherwise. Child care is a voluntary supplement to parental responsibility for the child’s protection, development, and supervision; (D) Child care provider or provider is the person(s) having the following responsibilities: 1. Ultimate responsibility for making and implementing decisions regarding the operation of the facility; and 2. Ultimate financial control of the operation of the facility; (E) Child care staff member is a child care provider; persons employed by the child care provider for compensation, including contract employees or self-employed individuals; individuals or volunteers whose activities involve the care or supervision of children for a child care provider or unsupervised access to children who are cared for or supervised by a child care provider; individuals residing in a family child care home who are eighteen (18) years of age or older; and individuals residing in a family child care home who are under eighteen (18) years of age and have been certified as an adult for the commission of an offense; (F) Department is the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; (G) Group size is the maximum number of children assigned to a specific staff member or group of staff members, occupying an individual classroom or well-defined physical space within a large room; (H) Homeless children and youths— 1. Are individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and 2. Include: A. Children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals; B. Children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings; C. Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and D. Migratory children who qualify as homeless because the children are living in the circumstances described above; (I) Infant is a child less than twelve (12) months of age; (J) Kindergarten is a children’s educational program offered to prepare children for the first grade; (K) License-exempt child care facility or facility is a nursery school not operated by a religious organization or child care maintained or operated under the exclusive control of a religious organization, not including religious organization academic preschools or kindergartens; (L) Local public health agency is an entity that enforces local public health codes and ordinances and provides other services related to public health; (M) Nursery school is an educational program for preschool-age children that is operated for no more than four (4) hours per child per day; (N) Parent means a child’s biological parent whose parental rights have not been terminated, a step-parent, an adoptive parent, a legal guardian, a caretaker relative, or other person standing in loco parentis for the child; (O) Premises is a house(s), dwelling(s), or building(s) and the adjoining land of a license-exempt child care facility; (P) Preschool-age child is a child two through five (2-5) years of age not enrolled in kindergarten; (Q) Religious organization is— 1. A church, synagogue, or mosque; 2. An entity that qualifies for federal tax exemption status as a not-for-profit religious organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; or 3. An entity whose real estate on which the child care facility is located is exempt from taxation because it is used for religious purposes; (R) Religious organization academic preschool or kindergarten is a child care program provided exclusively for four- (4-) and five- (5-)-year old children that is maintained or operated under the exclusive control of a religious organization; (S) School-age child is a child five (5) years of age or older who is enrolled in kindergarten or above; (T) Staff/child ratio is the number of caregivers required in relation to the number of children in care; (U) Toddler is a child twelve to twentyfour (12-24) months of age; and (V) Variance is approval by the department for a provider not to be required to meet a specific requirement of the rules of this chapter. AUTHORITY: section 161.092, RSMo 2016, and section 210.252, RSMo Supp. 2021.* This rule was previously filed as 19 CSR 4060.010. Original rule filed Dec. 1, 1994, effective July 30, 1995. Changed to 19 CSR 30-60.010 July 30, 1998. Emergency amendment filed March 1, 2000, effective March 11, 2000, expired Sept. 6. 2000. Amended: Filed March 1, 2000, effective Aug. 30, 2000. Moved to 5 CSR 25-300.010, effective Aug. 30, 2021. Amended: Filed Oct. 6, 2021, effective May 30, 2022. *Original authority: 161.092, RSMo 1963, amended 1973, 2002, 2003, 2013, 2014, and 210.252, RSMo 1993, amended 1999, 2019, 2020, 2021.