Fear and uncertainty have seeped into day cares and preschools since President Donald Trump’s administration rescinded a longstanding policy that restricted immigration enforcement activity on their grounds.

Previous state guidance on how school systems should handle visits from Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t explicitly mention Maryland’s child care businesses. But Maryland’s education department recently released guidance for those early-learning facilities, acknowledging that the possibility of dealing with ICE has sparked uncertainty “even if no such actions occur.”

The guidance calls for creating safe spaces, actively and continuously updating parents, and making specific staff members responsible for dealing with ICE. Here’s what providers and parents should know.

Who should be allowed in?

Access codes, key fobs and locked doors watched by a staff member: These are all “basic security protocols” the state recommends using “to keep children safe and prevent unauthorized access to child care facilities.”

ICE can only enter closed, private establishments with a judicial warrant signed by a judge or under pressing circumstances. Before letting agents in, staff should ask to see their credentials and authorization, the state guidance said.

How should staff interact with ICE?

State officials said child care programs should tap specific staff members who are responsible for speaking with ICE. They should also determine who will let people up the chain, like corporate owners or lawyers, know what’s going on.

Immigration advocates have previously said that day care teachers should know they are not obligated to answer questions about their or their students’ immigration statuses.

Staff should try to minimize interactions between ICE and children or their parents without physically intervening, the state’s guidance said, using “de-escalation and trauma-informed practices.”

Who can take kids home?

Parents — or trusted adults they’ve selected — and Child Protective Services are the only people allowed to take a child from their day care, the guidance said. And parents must be able to get to their kid at any time.

If a guardian wants someone else to pick up their children, they can fill out this form. They can also identify “standby guardians” to care for their child long-term in case they’re detained or deported.

What do parents have a right to know?

If ICE does carry out enforcement at a day care or even nearby, providers should notify parents when ICE arrives and leaves, the state guidance said.

Child care programs must have a way to reach families “in real time” and should be proactively telling parents about the steps they’re taking to protect kids and their private information.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.