Child Care

Improve The Quality Of Child Care

Last Updated Oct 5, 2008 05:21 AM

Other efforts to improve quality might be to mandate certain minimum requirements. These can take the form of reducing child:adult ratios, reducing group sizes, establishing and enforcing safety regulations, and education and training. An example of such regulations is a model standard that applies to small family home caregivers. The National Health and Safety Performance Standard (American Public Health Association and American Academy of Pediatrics, 1992) states that one small family caregiver who does not have an assistant â??shall not care for more than six children, including no more than two children under age 2. These numbers include the caregiverâ??s own children under the age of six. If any child under age 3 is in care, there shall be no more than four children, including the caregiverâ??s own children under the age of six. If only children under age 2 are in care, there shall be no more than three children, including those of the caregiverâ?? (Chapter 1, Staffing).

We also have training programs for providers of child care. The Department of Labor, Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, West Virginia Child Care Development Specialist Registered Apprenticeship Program offers child care apprentices 4,000 hours of supervised on-the-job training and 300 hours of classroom instruction. The child care providers earn their salaries while they are in the program and receive incremental wage increases as their skill, ability, and knowledge increase. The DOL reports that employers report almost no turnover among child care providers and that providers remain highly satisfied with their careers (www.dol.gov/dol/wb/public/childcare/child3.pdf).

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