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KDHE’s Child Care Systems Improvement team holds community roundtables, plans licensing specialist competencies
Summary
KDHE’s systems improvement team held roundtables to gather provider and consumer input across Kansas and is developing licensing specialist core competencies and a new provider portal, the director said.
Melissa Schoenberger, director for child care licensing at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, described a systems-improvement approach that uses stakeholder roundtables and a standing systems improvement team to shape licensing, technical assistance and field services.
Schoenberger said the team has expanded participation beyond Topeka by hosting roundtables in Abilene and Topeka and planned a March 12 roundtable in Wichita (hosted by Child Start). The sessions convene consumers, providers and partners in locations comfortable for participants — for example, a child-care center in Abilene and the Shawnee County Health Department in Topeka — and are open to the public with preregistration encouraged.
Early roundtable feedback included strong interest in mentoring networks, provider-run mentoring that often sits outside formal systems, and a need for technology support and training because KDHE and CAPE are launching new provider portals and technical systems. Schoenberger said KDHE will use the roundtable input to design tech-training supports and to coordinate with CAPE so providers are not left behind by new online systems.
Schoenberger also announced a project to define licensing specialist core competencies — the knowledge, skills, abilities and expected behaviors for KDHE licensing specialists (surveyors) who provide technical assistance and front-line support. The systems-improvement team, including providers and licensing specialists, will review and help refine those competencies to ensure expectations align with real-world interactions.
Ending
Schoenberger invited interested stakeholders to join the systems improvement team and to attend the Wichita roundtable on March 12; she provided contact information for follow-up.
