The family child care community appreciates the opportunity for family child care providers to get involved in the process of revisions and updates to the Family Child Care Licensing Standard. As a licensed family child care provider in Northern Virginia, I support the proposed regulatory action to amend Standards for Licensed Family Day Homes (22 VAC40-111). This amendment reflects federal health and safety standards to provide additional protections for the health, safety, and welfare of Virginia’s children. I believe children should be protected when they are under the care of other adults in any setting or program. This protection is for the children, but the parents will also benefit by knowing their children are safe while they are at work to support of our states economy. Additionally, to ensure the safety of all the children, it should be required by law for all providers to be held accountable to the standards going forward. No provider or caregiver should be exempt when it comes to planning for the health, safety, and emergency preparedness for our children. As part of the advocacy group for family child care providers of Virginia, I went through the minimum standards many times with our concerned providers. It is time for us to change and achieve the highest quality standards so that we are par with federal standards and other states who believe in quality family child care and have acted on. While the new amendments are in progress, this is an excellent opportunity include statewide support, financial support, grants, scholarships, and incentives for providers to obtain state required training. Additionally, training opportunities should be offered in the evening or weekend so that a standard of care can be maintained. In reference to 22VAC40-111-60-B-2-F, the proposed amendments need to be specific and provide clear interpretation and guidance of the new standards. Active links which provide resources like scholarship information and trainings would also be beneficial. Thank you for your extremely helpful attention to this matter. Sincerely, Aisha Bhatty