On April 30, 2025, the Government of Alberta released information on imminent changes to the Early Learning and Child Care Amendment Act. It also introduced a new ECE lookup tool and an unlicensed child care lookup tool.
These updates came into effect on April 30, 2025, and include revised requirements under the Act and Regulation.
Key updates to the Act and Regulation include:
- Enhanced enforcement powers: The statutory director can temporarily close part or all of a facility and take enforcement actions when it is in the public interest.
- Staff-to-child ratios: 16- and 17-year-old early childhood educators (ECEs) can count towards staff-to-child ratios if supervised by a Level 2 ECE.
- Family day home rules: Updating family day home agency license rules to match facility-based licenses, including suspension and probationary licenses.
- Notifications: Requiring family day home agencies to notify program educators and parents of certain reports received from the statutory director, including any that impact their license status.
- ECE Lookup Tool: Employers and parents can now check ECE certification status online.
- Unlicensed Child Care Lookup Tool: Albertans can look for stop orders online for unlicensed providers, which improves transparency in unlicensed child care.
These changes have been reflected in key policy documents such as the Child Care Licensing Handbooks for both facility-based and family day home agency licenses, the Family Day Home Standards Manual for Alberta and the Certification Guide for Early Childhood Educators. New program plan templates have also been released for family day home agency license holders.
A number of resources are available to help understand these changes, including:
- Fact sheets and FAQs for license holders and ECEs
- A summary of key changes to the public documents listed above
- A webinar presentation overview
Documents attached to the announcement included:
- 16 and 17 year-old Primary Staff Fact Sheet - for Facility-based Licence Holders
- ECE Lookup Tool FAQs - for ECEs
- FAQs - for Licence Holders
- FDH Agency Changes - for FDH Licence Holders
- Summary of Updates to Key Documents - for Licence Holders
For any questions or concerns, contact your licensing officer directly.