Maryland Enters Phase 2 of Recovery: What it means for child care

Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - 5:00pm

In response to questions from providers after Governor Hogan’s announcement that Maryland is entering Phase 2 of the recovery, MSDE is providing this clarification on child care operating procedures in Maryland. 

In continuing our safe and responsible reopening of child care, we will continue to accept applications for all licensed child care programs to operate as Essential Personnel Child Care (EPCC) sites and community organizations to operate as Essential Personnel School Age (EPSA) sites. EPCC and EPSA providers must be approved by the Office of Child Care (OCC) to ensure program staff have read and understood the joint MSDE and Maryland Department of Health (MDH) guidance on the Division of Early Childhood (DEC) website at https://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/early-childhood-grants-... Licensed child care providers may contact their licensing specialist to apply as EPCC sites.

The reopening of child care programs statewide does not change current guidance for health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as in regards to group size.  Group size in rooms remains at a maximum of 10 persons. In addition, licensing regulations temporarily relaxed during the onset of COVID-19 are currently under review and will be shared shortly with clear guidance on requirements and effective dates.

Please continue to review our FAQs here.   

Additional updates can be found on our website at https://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/covid-faqs.

View the official memo here.