Rule 15-11-55-3.1.4 - Definitions1.Act: The "Mississippi Childcare Licensing Law," Section 43-20-1 et seq. of the Mississippi Code of 1972.2.Accident: Accident means an incident that results in damage or creates observable injuries (scratch, bite mark, scraped knee, first aid given, etc.).3.Agency Representative: An authorized representative of the Mississippi State Department of Health.4.Caregiver: An individual at least 18 years of age with a minimum of one-year prior documented experience caring for children who are under thirteen years of age who provides direct childcare, supervision, and guidance to children.5.Caregiver Assistant: An individual at least 16 years of age. Caregiver assistants shall always work under the direct on-site supervision of a director or caregiver. They shall not have direct responsibility for a group of children as the sole caregiver. Caregiver assistants under the age of 18 shall not be given the authority to discipline children.6.Children with Special Needs: A child needing adaptation in a particular childcare family home to access programming and the physical environment.7.Critical Violation: Violation of rules(s) identified by the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) in the Regulations Governing Licensure of Childcare Facilities as most critical because non-compliance with those rules pose a threat to the health, safety, or well-being of the children in care and to the operation of the center.8.Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP): Principles of guidelines that are appropriate to each child's age and developmental status and responsive to the social and cultural context in which they live.9.Director: An individual at least 21 years of age with a minimum of high school diploma or equivalent GED and two years prior documented experience caring for children who are under 13 years of age who provides direct childcare, supervision, and guidance to children.10.Emergency Preparedness Plan: Each childcare family home is required to have an emergency preparedness plan which includes all activities and processes designed to prepare for an unsafe event and deal with the immediate emergency conditions created by or associated with the event, per the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42U.S.C. 5195a(a)(1)).11.Childcare Family Home: Homes that care for five or fewer children. In a licensed childcare home, the registered primary caregiver provides care in the caregiver's residence for not more than five children from birth through 13 years and may provide care after school hours for elementary school children. The total number of children in care at any given time, including the children related to the caregiver, must not exceed five.12.Field Trip: Activities conducted off the premises of the childcare family home, or outside of the approved playground areas, while under the supervision of center staff, whether a child walks or is transported.13.Group: The children assigned to a caregiver or team of caregivers occupying an individual classroom or well-defined physical space within a larger room.14.Hazardous Condition: A situation or place that presents a possible source of injury or danger.15.Health: The condition of being sound in mind and body and encompassing an individual's physical, mental, and emotional welfare.16.Health-Care Professional: A licensed physician, nurse practitioner, dentist, or other licensed medical personnel who provide health care to the child.17.Infant: Children from birth through 12 months.18.Licensing Agency: The Mississippi State Department of Health.19.Operator: Any person, acting individually or jointly with another person or persons, who shall establish, own, operate, conduct or maintain a childcare family home. The childcare family home license shall be issued in the name of the operator or operators. If there is more than one operator, all statutory and regulatory provisions concerning the background checks of operators shall be equally applied to all, including a spouse who jointly owns, operates, or maintains the childcare family home regardless of which operator is named on the license.20.Parent: As used in these regulations, parent shall mean custodial parent, legal guardian, foster parent, guardian ad litem, and other individuals or institutions to which a court of competent jurisdiction has granted legal authority over the child.21.Person: Any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or association.22.Personal Care: Assistance rendered by personnel of the home in performing one or more of the activities of daily living, which includes but is not limited to the feeding, personal grooming, supervising, and dressing of children placed in the home.23.Physical Confines: The space inside the walls of the home.24.Premises: Includes any parcel of land where the childcare center is located and any building, other structure, body of water, play equipment, street, sidewalk, walkway, driveway, parking garage, or parking lot on the parcel.25.Preschool Aged Children: Children from three years of age up to their first day of kindergarten.26.Professional Development: Participation by family home staff, in workshops, conferences, educational or provider associations, formal education, in-service training, or planned learning opportunities provided by qualified individuals. Training shall be age appropriate for the child population served by the family home and in such subject areas related to: childcare, child growth and development and/or early childhood education, nutrition, infection control/communicable disease management and causes, health and safety, signs and treatment of child abuse and/or neglect and shall include alternatives to corporal punishment. Training for directors may also be in areas related to supervision of childcare staff or program administration.27.Resident: Any person living in the childcare family home.28.Safety: The condition of being protected from hurt, injury or loss.29.School Age Child: A child five years of age or older and eligible to be enrolled in a public school. A child that is five years old must have turned five on or before September 1 to be considered a school-age child.30.Serious Occurrence: A serious occurrence includes but is not limited to, accidents or injuries requiring care by a health-care professional, deaths, alleged abuse and neglect, or other emergencies requiring the presence of law enforcement, fire personnel, EMT, or other emergency responders. Additionally, transportation accidents involving children in vehicles are considered serious occurrences and must be addressed by the appropriate authorities and childcare staff.31.Supervision: Care that is provided to an individual child or a group of children. Children shall always be supervised appropriate to the individual age, needs, and capabilities of each child. Such supervision must include, but not be limited to, indoor and outdoor activities, mealtimes, naptime, transportation, field trips, and transitions between activities. Adequate supervision means that the appropriate number of staff members are physically present in the area where children are being cared for and are providing watchful oversight to the children and volunteers. The persons supervising in the childcare area must be alert, positioned to maximize their ability to always hear and see the children, able to respond promptly to the needs and actions of the children being supervised, as well as the actions of the volunteers, provide timely attention to the children's actions and needs and promptly intervene in the case of an emergency. Staff shall also be attentive and participate with children during mealtimes and shall stay within proximity to the children while they are eating.32.Time Out: The child is given time away from an activity which involved inappropriate behavior.33.Toddler: Any child aged 12 months and under the age of 24 months.34.Watchful Oversight: The process of actively monitoring a child's activities.35.Weather Permitting: Daily weather conditions that do not pose any concerns for health and safety. This includes conditions in which children may still play safely outdoors for shorter periods with appropriate adjustments to clothing and access to water, shade, or shelter.15 Miss. Code. R. 11-55-3.1.4
Miss. Code Ann. § 43-20-8