Group aims to help providers, protect children

Would you take your child to an unlicensed pediatrician? Would you put your child on a school bus with an unlicensed driver? What about your daycare provider? Would you entrust your child all day to an unlicensed, potentially hazardous provider?

Back in the day of Ward and June Cleaver, dad went off to work and mom stayed home. That just isn’t the reality for many families today. To make ends meet, most mothers must work, and that makes daycare a necessity. There are about 1,300 independent licensed home daycare providers now serving Delaware families. Licensed providers follow state regulations, take training classes and have their homes inspected each year. But there are also many homes — no one knows the number — where child care is offered by people who have no licenses and no training, and who are not inspected or regulated. Unlicensed facilities, headed by operators with uncertain backgrounds, can pose a threat to every child in these homes. Right now, the state is unable to shut down these dangerous facilities effectively. They are difficult to track down and, once found, difficult to enforce any sort of regulation upon.

That’s why our group of licensed independent daycare providers has organized a political action committee to effect change throughout the state and to protect Delaware’s young. The Delaware Childcare Awareness Network has a mission to educate parents, the public and lawmakers. Our objective is clear: “Helping Providers, Protecting Children.”

The state of Texas initiated a public awareness campaign to educate parents and caregivers after the tragic deaths of several children in unsafe unlicensed facilities. We don’t want to wait for a tragedy in Delaware. The time for change is now. The safety of our kids is too important. The Delaware Childcare Awareness Network is ready to partner with lawmakers, state agencies and parents to make changes and make sure Delaware kids in daycare are as safe as they can possibly be.

Our education campaign seeks to let parents and the public know the benefits of licensed facilities. Licensed facilities have many credentials that unlicensed facilities aren’t likely to provide:

• Completion of at least 60 hours of training in a variety of subjects, with a minimum of 12 hours of new training each year. 
• CPR and First Aid certification every two years, and certification to administer medication.
• Successful completion of a criminal background check on themselves and all adult members of their households. Are you sure the “Uncle Charlie” at your daycare isn’t a sex offender?
• A home that has passed a professional electrical inspection, and is equipped with smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguishers.
• At least one unannounced annual inspection by a licensing specialist who also observes how the provider interacts with children in her care.
• A licensed provider who must keep records proving that children receiving care are up to date with immunizations, and that they receive physical exams — just like when they go to school.
• A smoke-free environment.
• A licensed provider who has liability insurance and pays income tax.
• A complaint mechanism, through the Office of Child Care Licensing.

Also, payments to licensed providers qualify for employer-sponsored childcare reimbursement plans and for federal tax credits.

The Delaware Childcare Awareness Network is working to strengthen state laws to shut down unsafe, unlicensed providers and to educate parents about the benefits of licensed childcare. We encourage parents to learn as much as they can about their provider and about the law. By not following the law and paying under the table for your childcare, you are putting your children at risk.

There are many factors to consider when choosing a caregiver; making sure the provider is licensed is the best place to start. Not everyone can stay home with their children when they are young. We believe that family child-care centers, based in providers’ homes, are the next best thing to being home.

For the safety and security of your child, we urge you to use only licensed homes. And, for the safety and security of all children in our state, support the Delaware Childcare Awareness Network in our effort to make all family daycares licensed and safe.

Janet Nagengast, Sharon Strohm and Nancy Martin are operators of licensed family child-care homes and the founders of the Delaware Childcare Awareness Network. They can be reached at childcare.de@gmail.com.