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Safe Child Care: Violence Prevention

January 6, 2013 by Grace Reef

Nearly 11 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care setting every week – on average for 35 hours.  The recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, is a reminder that we need to review our nation’s child care policies and practices to ensure that children are safe in child care settings.

  • Emergency Plans:  Does your child care provider have an emergency plan, which includes some type of shelter-in-place or “lock-down” procedure in case a violent or unauthorized intruder tries to gain entry?  Currently, only 15 states require such plans for child care centers.  For family child care homes, does your provider keep outside doors locked when caring for children?
  • Access to Guns:  Are guns allowed in your child care program? If so, are they required to be stored unloaded and locked away from children with ammunition stored separately?  Currently, 26 states prohibit guns in child care centers. Another 13 states require controlled access (i.e., guns must be stored in a locked cabinet or stored unloaded with ammunition in a different location), and 12 states have no regulation pertaining to firearms in child care centers.  With regard to family child care homes, 4 states prohibit guns, 41 states have controlled access, and 6 states have no regulation pertaining to guns in such homes.

The Newtown, Connecticut tragedy is also a reminder that the early years in a child’s life are critical to healthy development (including a child’s social and emotional development).  One key component to community safety is the availability and provision of mental health services, even in the youngest years. The early identification of those who could benefit from early intervention services (particularly mental health services) could make a difference in their future overall development, with life-long consequences. There is still much we do not know about events and conditions that might have spurred the violence in Newtown, but what we do know is that child care settings should be safe and that early intervention in children’s lives, especially those with challenges, can make a difference.

  • Early childhood developmental screening:  Does your state require early screening of children before entry into elementary school to see if they could benefit from early intervention?  (For example, is their vision ok? Is their hearing ok? Is their speech developing appropriately? Are there any indications of a developmental delay or behaviors that would indicate the need for mental health services)?
  • Training for Child Care Providers:  Does your state require that child care providers have education or training in early childhood development?  Or, training in meeting the needs of children after a traumatic event?
  • Background Checks for Child Care Providers: Does your state require a comprehensive background check for staff in child care centers and those who want to operate a child care program in their home?  A comprehensive check includes a fingerprint check against state and federal records, a check of the child abuse registry and a check of the sex offender registry.  Only 9 states currently require a comprehensive check for both employment in centers and family child care home licensing.  Screening out those with a violent history helps ensure that children are safe in child care.

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which sets the framework for state child care laws, does not require that any of these issues be addressed.  As a result, state laws to protect children while they are in child care vary greatly.

Last month,  President Obama asked Vice President Biden to lead an Administration initiative to reduce gun violence in our communities. The Vice President asked for recommendations from agencies throughout the Administration, the advocacy and research community, and others.  Likely there will be some discussion about the safety of children in schools.  Any initiative to promote the safety of children should include measures to ensure that children in child care are safe.  Child care settings should not exist in a separate silo.

To read Child Care Aware® of America’s recommendations to the Vice President, click here.  In related news, on Friday, House Democrats formed a legislative task force to make recommendations for Congress to consider.  As we learn more, we will let you know.

If you have policy ideas to promote children’s safety and healthy development in child care settings, please share them with us!  Email Grace.Reef@usa.childcareaware.org and we will incorporate them into our recommendations for Congress.

Posted in Background Checks, Health and Safety, Quality Child Care, Training | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Progress Toward Quality Child Care

January 1, 2013 by Grace Reef

The Year in Review

Child Care Aware®of America’s quality child care campaign kicks off another year today on the journey for affordable, safe, quality child care for all children.  How are we doing? What markers have we achieved to date?

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the federal law that allocates funds to states to help families afford child care and to assist states in improving the quality of child care, marked another year without reauthorization (the enactment of legislation that reviews current law and makes improvements where necessary).  It’s been 16 years since the last reauthorization. That’s too long. Hopefully, 2013 will ring the reauthorization bell.  Noteworthy for sure:  The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Children and Families held three child care hearings in the 112th Congress:

  • (July 2012) CCDBG Reauthorization: Helping to Meet the Child Care Needs of American Families. You can watch the webcast and read the testimony here.
  • (September 2011) Examining Quality and Safety in Child Care: Giving Working Families Security, Confidence and Peace of Mind. You can watch the webcast and read the testimony here.
  • (June 2011) Getting the Most Bang for the Buck: Quality Early Education and Care. You can watch the webcast and read the testimony here.

Hearings lay the groundwork for reauthorization.  Thank you Senate HELP Committee Senators and staff for the work that you do.  Thank you also to the many parents, advocates, child care providers, and early childhood experts for your dedication and commitment to quality child care that helped make Senate hearings possible in our nation’s capital.

Short of national legislation, much progress has been made throughout the states.  Child Care Aware® of America has released six child care licensing studies since 2007.  The “We Can Do Better” series, which scores and ranks states based on their state child care center laws and regulations, was first released in March of 2007 and updated in 2009 and 2011. The report will be updated again in April of 2013. The “Leaving Children to Chance” series, which scores and ranks states based on their state small family child care home laws and regulations, was first released in March of 2008 and updated in 2010 and 2012. In reviewing our most recent reports with the initial reports when we first began on this journey, it is clear that states are making strides to improve the quality of child care.

  • Background Checks:  Screening out those who have a violent history of offenses (such as assault and battery, sex offenses, homicide, etc.) is key to promoting the safety of children in child care.  When we began our studies, only a handful of states required a comprehensive background check: a check of federal and state records using fingerprints, a check of the state child abuse registry and a check of the sex offender registry. Today, 13 states require a comprehensive background check for those working in child care centers (AK, CO, HI, ID, IL, MS, NH, NJ, NC, SC, SD, TN and WA).  In addition, 11 states require a comprehensive background check for small family child care home providers (AK, CO, FL, HI, IL, NH, NC, SC, TN, WA and WV).
  • Health & Safety Requirements: When we began looking at state health and safety requirements for child care, only 8 states met each of 10 health and safety requirements recommended by pediatric experts. Today, 33 states met all 10 health and safety standards recommended by pediatric experts for child care centers.  Also notable for child care centers, an additional 10 states met 9 of 10 health and safety standards. Far fewer, but still progress when measured against our first report, 15 states met all 10 health and safety standards recommended by pediatric experts for small family child care homes. Also notable for small family child care homes, 34 states met 9 of 10 health standards and 32 states met 9 of 10 safety standards.
  • Child Development: When we began looking at state required activities compared to developmental domains (i.e., social, emotional, physical, language/literacy, cognitive and cultural domains), only 13 states required activities in child care centers within each of the domains; 10 states had no requirements for activities in child care centers related to developmental domains. Today, 22 states require activities in child care centers within all 6 developmental domains; 3 states have no required activities in child care centers related to developmental domains (AL, CA, ID).  For small family child care homes, today 8 states require activities in all developmental domains (AZ, DE, GA, KS, MI, TN, WA and WV).
  • Inspections: When we began looking at state monitoring or oversight practices, only a handful of states conducted regular inspections and few posted inspection results on the internet for easy parent access. Today, 5 states conduct inspections of child care centers less than once per year (AL, CA, ID, MN, and VT).  Progress has been made but still too many states – 24 – conduct inspections of small family child care homes less than once per year. More than half the states post inspection reports on the internet so that parents can make informed decisions when selecting child care.

To review a table of progress made against key benchmarks on the roadmap for quality child care, click here.

Progress has been made. Numerous states have made important improvements to ensure that children are safe and in child care settings that promote their healthy development. However, much work remains at the national level to enact CCDBG reauthorization and within the states.

Thank you state child care administrators, parents, advocates, child care providers, child care experts and all those who work every day to ensure that progress toward quality child care is being made. We’re on the road, we’ve had some success.

With the start of 2013, our campaign continues. Keep up the good work. Progress can’t be made without you – and, together we can make a difference.  Nearly 11 million children in child care are depending upon you. Make 2013 a banner year!

Posted in Background Checks, Health and Safety, Inspections, Quality Child Care, Training | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Join Senator Mikulski — Any Budget Deal Should Put Children First!

December 9, 2012 by Grace Reef

Congressional leaders are currently negotiating a new budget framework to avoid the fiscal cliff (i.e, the across-the-board cuts scheduled to occur on January 2 combined with the expiration of a number of tax breaks scheduled to expire later this month).  

At issue are efforts to avoid an across-the-board cut that is scheduled to occur as a result of Congress’ past failure to reduce the deficit in line with targets set up in a deficit reduction deal passed more than a year ago.  Another issue that is complicating the matter is that a number of previously passed tax cuts are scheduled to expire at the end of the month. This means that everyone’s taxes will rise if Congress takes no action.

The Senate passed a bill earlier this year that would extend the tax cuts for all but the wealthiest in this country – those individuals who earn over $200,000 and families who earn over $250,000.  Estimates are that 98 percent of Americans earn under those thresholds and would not be affected.

It is unclear what will happen.  Will there be a new budget deal or framework under which a budget bill/deficit reduction bill is developed?  Or, will the country go over the fiscal cliff – an across-the-board budget cut will occur and everyone’s taxes will rise?

The budget framework under negotiation is important because it will provide a roadmap for Congressional priorities over the next year and over the next decade.  Senator Mikulski (D-MD) is circulating a children’s budget letter for other Senators to sign, which she intends to send to the Congressional leadership. The Mikulski children’s budget letter urges the negotiators to put children first – as part of the underlying framework, not merely an after-thought once the framework has been decided. As Senator Mikulski says, “It is time to both protect and invest in those who are the most vulnerable in our country – not leave them to chance.”

According to data from 2011:

  • One in five children – 16 million – in the United States live in poverty, including one in four children under age 5. Half of children under age 6 in the U.S. live in low-income families.
  •  More than 8.5 million children in the U.S. lived in food insecure households.
  •  Children are not getting the early learning they need to succeed in school. Only 29 percent of eligible 3-5 year old children in the U.S. are enrolled in Head Start. Just 4.5 percent of eligible children are enrolled in Early Head Start. Only one in six eligible children receive a child care subsidy, but the quality of care many of those children are in (as well as the care children not receiving a subsidy are in) is relatively poor.
  • Half of U.S. 4th grade students eligible for free or reduced price lunch fail to read at grade level.
  • 40 percent of U.S. families with a substantiated child abuse report received no services in 2010.
  • More than 1,500 children in the U.S. died due to abuse and neglect (47.7 percent were children under the age of one).
  • Fifteen years after the creation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, 10 percent of children in the U.S. still do not have health insurance.

We think Senator Mikulski is right.  In any budget framework that is agreed to, children ought to come first.  Children are the future of our country. To see a copy of Senator Mikulski’s children’s budget letter that is circulating in the Senate, click here.

It’s time for Congress to make children a priority.  Please contact your Senators today and urge them to sign on to Senator Mikulski’s children’s budget letter.  The deadline is Wednesday, December 12, C.O.B.  The bottom line? No bad budget deal for kids!  The final budgetary framework will be a reflection of our nation’s priorities – join Senator Mikulski in urging budget negotiators to put children first!

Click here to visit our action center to send an email to your Senators. The deadline for signing Senator Mikulski’s children’s budget letter is Wednesday evening (December 12), so don’t wait!  

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Parents Want Affordable, Quality Child Care!

November 22, 2012 by Grace Reef

Child Care Aware® of America is partnering with Parents Magazine to urge Congress to focus on the child care crisis. Click here to see the article in the December issue of Parents. The federal law that allocates funds to states for child care is the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). It has very few rules to ensure that children are safe in child care and that the settings that children are in promote their healthy development.  The law has not been updated since 1996.

Did you know?

  • Child care laws vary by state. Most states fail to earn a passing grade on even the most basic of health and safety protections for children according to state licensing reports by Child Care Aware® of America.
  • CCDBG does not require background checks for child care providers.
  • CCDBG does not require minimum training for child care providers.
  • CCDBG does not require inspections of child care programs.

Our nation-wide parent polling over the last several years shows that the top two concerns that parents have about child care are: quality and affordability.

It’s time to let Congress know that child care is important to working parents. You can help make a difference by urging your Members of Congress to reauthorize and strengthen the law. This should be a bipartisan issue: As Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) told the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families earlier this year, “It is absolutely crucial that we make a national commitment that safe and quality child care is available everywhere.”

Taking action couldn’t be easier! Simply click here to visit our action center to send an email to your Members of Congress today. Child care should be safe. It should be affordable. It should promote the healthy development of children so that one day they start school ready to learn!

Posted in Background Checks, Health and Safety, Inspections, Quality Child Care, Training | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Child Care Training Can Save Lives!

November 3, 2012 by Grace Reef

This week, Norfolk Circuit Court Judge Charles Poston dismissed a felony charge of child cruelty against a child care director who ran a program where 7-week-old Dylan Cummings died in May of 2010.  What happened? What’s the issue?

Like “A Tale of Two Cities,” a Charles Dickens’ novel, this is a story of two types of child care in Virginia: licensed care and what’s called “religiously exempted child day care centers.”  But, this isn’t a Charles Dickens’ novel, it’s real life. And, in this story, a baby died.

Betsy Cummings of Norfolk learned as a new mother to never lay her baby down to sleep on his stomach. She learned to place him to sleep on his back to reduce the likelihood of SIDS — Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.  She enrolled her son in the Little Eagles Day Care program affiliated with the Bethel Temple Church of Deliverance, but she didn’t know that the state had different rules for licensed care compared to church run care. After returning to work for only one week, she received the call no parent wants.  There was an incident at the child care center and she needed to come immediately. When she arrived, the paramedics told her that her baby was dead.

Court records show that Dylan was found unresponsive in the nap room after being placed to sleep on his stomach. The medical examiner’s report found that he was otherwise healthy and determined the cause of death as SIDS.  According to the Centers for Disease Control  (CDC),  “even when a thorough investigation is conducted, it may be difficult to separate SIDS from other types of sudden unexpected infant deaths, especially accidental suffocation in bed.”

Did Dylan die of SIDS or did he suffocate when placed to sleep on his stomach? We don’t know. But, we do know that the state of Virginia has tried to pre-empt such deaths in child care licensed by the state.  In both VA licensed child care centers and family child care homes, babies are required to be put to sleep on their backs.  There are specific monitoring and supervision requirements.  There are specific annual training requirements: 16 hours for staff in centers and 14 hours (increasing to 16 hours in July of 2013) for family child care home providers.  But, in license-exempt centers sponsored by religious organizations, there are no training requirements. There are no requirements to place infants to sleep on their backs.

According to a Norfolk area newspaper article, state social service workers investigated the Little Eagles center after Dylan’s death and cited the program for multiple violations (of the skeletal rules under which license-exempt religious centers operate).  The violations included not having enough staff to care for infants in the center. The program has since closed.

Judge Poston said that the prosecutor failed to show that the child care director was intentionally negligent.  This is not the first time for such a conclusion.  Earlier this year, Juan Carlos Cardenas, a 22-month-old toddler, drowned in a church baptismal at an unlicensed child care center run by Praise Fellowship Assembly of God Church in Indiana. Like the case with Dylan Cummings, the center was exempt from licensing because it was a church sponsored program and was subject to a subset of broad rules, not the specific licensing rules that protect children. In the case of Juan Carlos, the staff lost track of him.  He somehow walked away from his peers, through 2 unlocked doors, up a flight of steps, and drowned in the baptismal pool in the sanctuary.  Similar to the case with Dylan Cummings, a state prosecutor didn’t think there was criminal intent.

Putting aside criminal intent, which courts will decide, what’s clear is that there are two standards: a licensing standard intended to protect the safety of children and a lower standard that does not.  Training of child care providers is critically important, yet these centers were not required to follow licensing standards with regard to training (including safe sleep practices in the case of baby Dylan).  It is time to ensure that all children in child care are safe.  This is not about religion. It is not about Sunday school.  It is about settings where people are paid to care for unrelated children.  Is there any compelling reason why children should be less safe in some centers than others? 

There shouldn’t be two sets of standards. It just doesn’t make sense. And, in the cases of Dylan Cummings and Juan Carlos Cardenas, they are dead.  They died in the care of child care providers who operated centers exempt from licensing protections for children.  Had the centers in which they were enrolled been required to follow licensing standards, there’s a good chance both children would still be alive.  But, we’ll never know.  What we do know, is that children in such centers can be better protected.  Hopefully, this is a wake-up call for states like Virginia and Indiana that have two sets of standards. There are lives to be protected. 

At a minimum, training requirements should be the same for all centers, regardless of their location or sponsorship. Training makes a difference. Training can save lives.  Send an email to your Members of Congress today to require minimum training for child care providers as part of the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant.

Posted in Health and Safety, Quality Child Care, Training | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Juggling Sick Children and Child Care

October 28, 2012 by Grace Reef

If you’re a parent with a young child in child care, chances are you’ve had a call to pick up your child due to some type of illness.  Nearly 11 million children under age 6 are in some type of child care every week.  As every parent knows, colds happen.  Other illnesses happen too, but recognizing when a child should be excluded from child care and when it’s okay for them to stay in group care, varies by state and by program.

A study published in Pediatrics Magazine in May, “Unnecessary Child Care Exclusions in a State That Endorses National Exclusion Guidelines”  found that child care center directors would exclude nearly 60 percent of children with mild illnesses – although guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Public Health Association (APHA) would not warrant their exclusion.  Directors with greater child care experience made fewer unnecessary exclusion decisions.  The authors of the study recommended that child care center directors have initial and ongoing training regarding the AAP/APHA guidelines to reduce the high rates of unnecessary exclusion.  For the AAP/APHA cheat sheet on exclusion symptoms and signs, click here.

What’s the big deal? When children are excluded from child care due to illness, working parents have to scramble to figure out how to take care of their children and still meet their work obligations so that they can support their families.  Many child care programs exclude sick children until they have a doctor’s note, are taking antibiotics, or their illness has improved or resolved.  In some situations, that’s warranted.  But, for many mild illnesses, it’s not.  A new national poll of parents with children under age 6 in child care by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital found:

  • Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of parents say their children could not attend because of an illness in the past year.
  • Nearly 40 percent (38 percent) of parents say their child was unable to attend child care three or more times during the past year.
  • One-third (33 percent) of parents are concerned about losing their jobs or losing pay when taking off work to care for their sick children.
  • Nearly 10 percent of parents say that taking their sick child to the emergency room is more convenient than seeing a primary care doctor.

Work Impact:

  • 42 percent of parents said they had missed work in the last year due to their child’s illness.
  • 26 percent of parents said they missed work 3 or more times over the last year due to their child’s illness.
  • 50 percent of parents said that finding alternative or back-up child care for their sick children was difficult.
  • 33 percent of parents said taking time off from work with a sick child is difficult because they may lose pay or their job.

Clearly, there are illnesses that warrant exclusion. And, no doubt, child care program directors are trying to balance a healthy setting for all children against the working needs of parents.  At the same time, the authors of the May Pediatrics article found that many directors were not aware of the AAP/APHA guidelines.  Appropriate handling of sick children, including exclusion policies, is yet another reason why training for child care providers (and directors) can make a difference. Training can also help child care providers use healthy practices to reduce the spread of germs.  The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the law that allocates funds to states for child care and sets the framework for state child care laws, does not require any training for child care providers – not even basic health and safety practices (let alone sick child exclusion policies).  Send an email to your Members of Congress today to urge that CCDBG require minimum training for child care providers.  Children do get sick.  Child care providers need to know when to exclude children and how to reduce the likelihood that germs will be spread. Training can address both, yet state policies vary greatly.  It’s time for Congress to require training.

Posted in Health and Safety, Quality Child Care, Training | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Child Care Training Matters!

October 13, 2012 by Grace Reef

In a survey by the National Center for Early Development and Learning, nearly half (46 percent) of kindergarten teachers in a nationwide sample said that over half of the children in their class weren’t ready to succeed in school. Why?  Before we get out the magic wand and with Harry Potter-like precision create pre-kindergarten programs in every state focused on pre-literacy and early math strategies, education experts ought to review the relationship between “executive function” and a child’s future school success – particularly for low income children.

What’s executive function? And, what does that have to do with children younger than age five? There are three functions that make up the core of executive functioning:

  • working memory  (the capacity to remember information and tap it when you need it – like following directions, planning, taking turns, and rejoining a game after taking a break)
  • inhibitory control  (the capacity to filter thoughts and control impulses, resist distractions, stay on task, and focus)
  • cognitive or mental flexibility (the capacity to switch gears and adjust to changing demands, priorities, solve problems, apply different rules to different settings)

Children are born with the potential to develop these capacities, but the foundation for executive function skills are shaped by their early experiences.  This is important because it means that the foundation for school success, the capacity and strategies a child draws upon and uses in kindergarten, are not first learned in kindergarten. The building blocks for school readiness and school success are stacked long before a child enters the public school system. A strong working memory, self-control, and focusing skills provide the basis for which children learn to read, write, do math, and engage in other critical thinking skills.

A child with weak executive functioning skills will have a much harder time succeeding in school.  A child with weak executive functioning skills is at risk of expulsion from a preschool or child care setting or potentially is at-risk of the inappropriate use of medication. The child might be labeled as having “bad behavior” or may disappear in a child care program rather than engage with friends and the teacher.

Here’s what the science tells us.  Executive function capacity can be taught and improved. In three randomized trials, children in settings that emphasized executive function skills showed improved performance in a range of developmental areas.  Children who experienced a combined approach integrating both executive function focus and literacy had significantly greater achievement once in public school.

Yes, well-designed pre-k programs are part of the solution to school success. But, children aren’t born at age 4 and given the hours that children spend in child care, it can no longer be ignored as an early learning setting (in addition to being a work support).

The science tells us that 80 percent of a child’s brain develops by the age of 3 and nearly 90 percent by the age of 5. Assessments of child care programs have found that low income children have the most to gain from a quality child care program.  A long-term study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) found that even a decade after children had been in a quality child care program, the effects were still evident at age 15 when those children scored higher on measures of academic and cognitive achievement and were less likely to misbehave than those enrolled in low quality care.

Nearly 11 million children under the age of 5 are in some type of child care setting every week. Yet, the training required by child care staff varies greatly by state. And, most states have very weak training and education requirements.  Why ignore the science? Doesn’t it make sense to require minimum training to ensure that children have all the skills they need to succeed in school (including executive function skills that will equip a child to learn)?

Take action today! The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the federal law that sets the framework for state child care laws, does not require any minimum training for child care staff or those who want to get a license to operate a child care program out of their home.  That’s just wrong. Particularly when you know the science, it makes no sense.  CCDBG has not been updated in 16 years. It’s time to update the law to be in sync with the science. Urge your Members of Congress today to require child care providers to have minimum training.

Posted in Health and Safety, Quality Child Care, Training | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

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