Child Care Health Resource Library

King County's Child Care Health Program presents strategies for preventing the spread of illness in child care settings through hygiene, cleaning, and exclusion practices. The webpage offers practical tools and guidance to help providers maintain a healthy environment for children and staff. 

Topics include: 

• Keep me home if...
• Handwashing
• Changing diapers
• Illness log
• Incident/Injury Log
• Stand-up diapering
• Thermometers

King County's Child Care Health Program compiled a list of resources and guidance on safe sleeping practices for and providing care for babies to sleep safely through videos and infographics. 

King County's Child Care Health Program presents model health policy templates designed for use by early learning programs. 

The documents below are model health policy templates designed for use by early learning programs. They include both WAC items and what is currently considered to be best practice from the American Academy of Pediatrics' Caring for Our Children 4th edition. Public Health Nurses are available to assist King County early learning programs with development of a health policy. Please call 206-263-8262 to speak with a Public Health Nurse.
 

King County Child Care Health Program staff have created a model lactation support policy designed to assist child care providers in supporting lactating parents and babies who are fed human milk. Health professionals agree that human milk is the best food for babies. With your help, babies in your care can still get the benefits of human milk when away from their parents.

Linked below are the Model Lactation Support Policy for Childcare Programs and a list of Lactation Coalition of King County 2025 Resources.

King County's Child Care Health Program presents a Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure Control Plan for Child Care Providers.

Caring for Our Children (CFOC) is a set of national standards that represent the best practices — based on evidence, expertise, and experience — for quality health and safety policies and practices in early care and education settings. CFOC Basics represents the minimum health and safety standards required in Head Start and is a subset of the CFOC national standards. Explore this collection to learn more about these important resources.

The full text of Caring for Our Children (575 pages) is available for free as a PDF or can be purchased as a printed book. 

Update October 2025: Caring For Our

King County's Child Care Health Program presents up-to-date vaccine requirements and guidance for children in child care settings, aligned with Washington State regulations. The webpage includes immunization schedules, compliance guidelines, and resources to support providers in maintaining a healthy environment.

King County's Child Care Health Program shares a monthly newsletter featuring health and safety updates for child care providers. Each newsletter includes practical tips, policy changes, and seasonal guidance to support children's well-being in care settings.

King County's Child Care Health Program presents guidance on safe and effective toothbrushing practices in child care settings to promote oral health that includes tips on hygiene, supervision, and preventing the spread of germs during group brushing routines.

Downloadable PDFs are available in Amharic, Arabic, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), English, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. 

King County's Child Care Health Program presents child care providers with guidance on protecting children from poor air quality and wildfire smoke. It includes tips on monitoring air conditions, adjusting outdoor activities, and using indoor air filtration to reduce exposure with downloadable PDFs and video instructions.

No Smoking, No Vaping posters available in Amharic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), English, Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese.

Tip: Webpage can be machine translated using the globe icon in the top right corner of the page.