Records policy
Template. Review by a licensed attorney before production use. Bracketed items must be completed by the center.
Purpose
Chapter 746 allows a center to keep its records electronically, or as a mix of paper and electronic records (§746.805). A center that keeps a mix must write down what stays in the paper file and what is kept electronically (§746.805(1)). This policy is that written procedure for [CENTER LEGAL NAME].
Where each record is kept
| Record | Kept in | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Children's records and admission information | The portal | §746.601, §746.603 |
| Daily sign-in and sign-out | The portal | §746.631, §746.801(19) |
| Medication records | The portal | §746.801(7) |
| Personnel and training records | The portal | §746.801(3), §746.901 |
| Staff attendance and time sheets | [PORTAL OR PAPER] | §746.801(5) |
| Director's certificate, inspection reports, insurance proof | [PORTAL OR PAPER] | §746.801(4), (6), (11)-(13) |
| Emergency drill and safety documentation | [PORTAL OR PAPER] | §746.801(10) |
| Emergency paper roster (see below) | Paper, in the emergency bag | §746.805(2) |
Caregivers can always reach the records
Children's records must be accessible to all caregivers during their work shift, at changes of caregiver, and during emergency evacuations (§746.805(2)), and the sign-in system must show every caregiver which children are in care (§746.631(b)). Every caregiver on shift is given a portal account.
The portal does not yet provide an offline roster. Until it does, the center keeps a printed roster of enrolled children, with emergency contacts and allergies, in [LOCATION OF EMERGENCY BAG], and reprints it [HOW OFTEN]. During an evacuation or an outage, caregivers account for children from that roster and enter the sign-in records in the portal once service is restored.
Sign-in and sign-out
Each arrival and departure records the child's name, the date, the time, and the initials or unique identifier of the employee or parent who signed (§746.631(a)). Because the system is automated, each parent is assigned a unique identifier, as the rule's technical assistance requires.
Who may see a child's record
- Caregivers, immediately, during hours of operation for use in an emergency (§746.601(a)).
- A parent, for their own child, during a parent conference with the caregiver or director (§746.601(b)).
- Licensing, for review or reproduction on request during hours of operation (§746.601(c), §746.805(3)).
Background-check information is confidential and is disclosed only to authorized persons (§746.201(6)). Unauthorized disclosure of it is a Class A misdemeanor.
How long records are kept
Unless another rule says otherwise, every record the center must keep is kept at the center for at least three months from the date it was created (§746.803(a)). Training records for the current director and caregivers are kept for at least the current and last full training year (§746.803(b)). The center keeps records longer than the minimum as follows: [RETENTION SCHEDULE]. Records are destroyed by [METHOD], and destruction is logged.
Security
- Each person has their own account. Accounts are never shared.
- An account is deactivated on the day its holder leaves the center.
- Hosting: [HOSTING PROVIDER AND REGION]. Backups: [FREQUENCY AND LOCATION].
- Devices used to open the portal are [DEVICE RULES, E.G. PASSCODE AND AUTO-LOCK].
Responsibility
The director, [DIRECTOR NAME], is responsible for this policy, for granting and removing access, and for producing records to Licensing. This policy is reviewed [HOW OFTEN] and whenever the records the center keeps change.