Amends TCA Title 71, Chapter 3.

Under present law, certain child care programs, like parent's day out programs or camp programs, are exempt from being licensed as a child care agency if the program demonstrates clear and convincing evidence that it meets all requirements for the exemption. This bill creates an exemption for in-home childcare (services provided within the residence of the primary caregiver without additional staff who are unrelated to the primary caregiver) operations that:<br /> <br /> (1) Provide care for no more than ten children at the same time, including children related to the primary caregiver; and <br /> <br /> (2) Receive a signed waiver from each child's parent or legal guardian stating that the parent or legal guardian consents to the child being cared for by the caregiver and the parent or legal guardian knows the caregiver is unlicensed. The primary caregiver must maintain signed waiver forms for each child that is unrelated to the caregiver and must make the signed forms available to the department upon request. <br /> <br /> Under this bill, in order to qualify for an in-home child operation exemption, the operation must:<br /> <br /> (1) Register with the department by providing, at a minimum, the address of the residence at which the care will be provided, the name of the primary caregiver, and their intent to conduct in-home child care under this exemption; and <br /> <br /> (2) Maintain records that include, at a minimum, the children's names, ages, addresses, dates and times of attendance, the parents' or custodians' names, addresses, and the telephone numbers of persons to contact in the event of an emergency. All records must be made available at any time to any authorized representative of the <br /> <br /> department. <br /> <br /> Failure to comply with the requirements of this bill will subject the violator to a civil penalty by the department not to exceed $500 for the first violation and not to exceed $1,000 for subsequent violations. The department may seek injunctive relief in the chancery circuit court of the county where the place or facility is located to prevent further operation of the place or facility or to obtain entry to conduct any inspection of the operation.<br /> <br /> This bill will take effect January 1, 2022. <br />