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NCCIC Library
Who Knows How Safe? The Status of State Efforts to Ensure Quality Child Care
By Gina C Adams
1990
Summary: This report provides a comprehensive examination of current State policies to protect children in child care settings and to improve the quality of care. It includes an analysis of State policies designed to provide basic assurances of adequate quality through the licensing system, as well as complementary State initiatives that assist child care providers in meeting or exceeding these minimum requirements and help parents become better consumers of child care. Data were collected by the Children’s Defense Fund through surveys of the 50 States and the District of Columbia and reflect State policy as of April 1, 1990. An estimated 2.6 million children (43% of all children in out-of-home child care) are unprotected by State regulation in large part because the settings in which they are cared for are exempt from even minimal health and safety standards. Standards that do apply to regulated child care programs often fall below levels broadly recognized as necessary to ensure young children’s health, safety, and full development. Due to inadequate State investments, many State licensing agencies lack sufficient resources to monitor and enforce the requirements they impose on regulated child care programs. Although low salaries for child care providers cause high turnover and contribute to a crisis in the quality and supply of child care, the majority of States have made no attempt to address this problem. The chapters of this report include: (1) “Types of Child Care Programs Subject to State Regulation,” (2) “State Licensing Standards or Requirements,” (3) “State Monitoring and Enforcement Efforts,” (4) “State Strategies to Improve the Quality of their Programs,” (5) “State Strategies to Help Parents Ensure the Quality of their Children’s Child Care Programs,” and (6) “State-by-State Tables.” Appendices include: “The Effects of the Quality of Child Care on Children in Child Care Centers In Atlanta, Georgia,” “The Child Care Salary ‘Crisis,’” “Salary and Quality Enhancement Policies in Manitoba, Canada,” “Using Public/Private Partnerships to Improve the Quality of Child Care,” and “The Role of Resource and Referral Services in Improving Quality.” A list of State contacts is provided.
Index Terms: Licensing, Quality Initiatives, State Regulations, State Standards, State Surveys, Compensation, Group Size, Parent Education, Provider Training
Publisher: Children's Defense Fund
Publication Type: Reports (Descriptive)
Pages: 142 pages
Language: English
Availability
Children's Defense Fund
25 E Street NW
Washington,
District of Columbia
20001
202-628-8787
cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org
http://www.childrensdefense.org
10530 Rosehaven St., Suite 400 • Fairfax, VA 22030 | Phone: (800) 616-2242 • Fax: (800) 716-2242 • TTY: (800) 516-2242
NCCIC is a service of the Child Care Bureau (CCB), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Administration for Children and Families(ACF), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services