Title: Relating to the regulation of child-care facilities and registered family homes providing services to children with disabilities or special needs.
First Introduced: 11/09/2020
Status: Stage 1: House filed, not yet out of House committee
HB 168 would improve partnerships between child care providers and Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) programs to better serve children with developmental delays and disabilities. ECI is a federal-state program that contracts with community organizations, to provide life-changing therapies and services to children under age three with autism, speech delays, Down syndrome, and other disabilities and developmental delays. Passing this bill would strengthen efforts to reach more children who are eligible for ECI, increase child care providers’ knowledge and skills related to developmental delays and disabilities, and increase referrals from child care providers to critical early intervention services for babies and toddlers. The bill also prohibits discrimination by licensed child-care facilities and registered family homes based on a special need.