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Working with a child care health consultant: Child care health consultation is a voluntary and collaborative process between a child care program and a Child Care Health Consultant (CCHC).


  • The work of a CCHC includes:

  • Providing consultation, technical assistance, and/or training through email, telephone, and on-site visits to:
    • Increase the amount, quality, and sustainability of health and safety practices in the classroom
    • Address immediate health and/or safety concerns
  • Reviewing child health information such as immunization records and emergency action plans.
  • Using the NC Health and Safety Assessment and Encounter Tool (HSAET) to:
    • Document consultation and technical assistance encounters with a child care facility
    • Conduct health and safety observational assessments
    • Use a collaborative process to develop and implement a quality improvement plan.

  • Child care providers are responsible for:
    • Informing early educators and other staff if/when CCHCs services are being utilized.
    • Informing parents/guardians they are working with a CCHC to improve the safety and health of the facility, which may include record review.
    • Working collaboratively with the CCHC to implement agreed upon quality improvements.

  • Data is collected using the NC Health and Safety Assessment and Encounter Tool (HSAET)
  • All data is stored on a secure server housed by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

    • Personally identifiable information of children is never collected.
    • Names of early educators may be collected for record keeping purposes but will never be shared publicly.
    • Names of facilities and the services they receive may be reported to program funders for administrative purposes. The names of facilities will never be shared publicly.
    • Aggregate data (which does not include names of facilities or early educators) may be shared publicly.
    • Only the CCHCs that work in the county of service, their supervisors (for quality assurance purposes), and the staff at UNC Chapel Hill that provide administrative and technical support for the NC HSAET have access to the complete data set.

    Contact a CCHC with any questions.