For parents under stress, quality child care with specific supports can help strengthen their family and promote their child’s development. Specialized child care services may offer these supports.

Specialized child care is a status that is a regulated child care program can apply for in the State of Vermont.

Child care providers do the following to become specialized:

1. Agree to be in good regulatory standing
2. Be open to program improvement
3. Take the initial Basic Specialized Care training
4. Be committed to ongoing specialized training every year
5. Sign a Specialized Child Care Provider Agreement. This agreement is then sent to the Child Development Division (CDD) for approval. For more information or to obtain an agreement contact your local community child care agency.

Child care providers should have approved specialized child care provider status prior to enrolling children with a specialized child care need. This will enable the child care provider to have basic training information on child development, families and the Vermont child protection system. When a provider has the specialized child care provider status ahead of time it can reduce potential delays in CDD subsidy payments.

The Specialized Child Care Handbook provides more information about Specialized Child Care in Vermont.