Vehicle Alarm Installation Notice

Pursuant to Senate Bill 252, child care facilities and large family child care homes are required to install an alarm system in each vehicle used by the facility or home to transport children by Jan. 1, 2022. Alongside the alarm requirements, child care providers are required to continue conducting physical and visual sweeps of the vehicle and maintaining a log.

Section 2.5 of the Child Care Facility handbook and Section 2.4.2 of the Family Day Care Home and Large Family Child Care Home handbook both require the driver of a vehicle used to transport children to record a log with each child’s name, the date and time of departure, and initials of a second child care personnel indicating that each child was accounted for. A second visual sweep of the inside of the vehicle is also required.

The alarm requirement does not replace the log requirements outlined above. Rather, the alarm serves as an additional safety measure to be used alongside the log. The following is a suggested method to meet both requirements:

Upon arrival, the driver must unload the children, complete a visual sweep, deactivate the alarm, update the transportation log immediately – verifying that all children were accounted for and that the visual sweep was completed, and escort the children inside. Immediately following, the second personnel must then complete the second visual sweep of the vehicle and document on the transportation log.