Responsibility for Children in Day Care and Home-based Care Facilities

Abstract

The requirements for childcare centers, be it licensed Day Care or Home-based, varies by state. This assignment is to give the requirements as set by the State of Alabama for both types of facilities. Profound apologies offered to my professor for using easy-way-out by the shortcut of a copy/paste, which is the less attractive method in completing this assignment. The end-results are in pointing out the credibility and responsibility of those that care for children.

State of Alabama Child Care Center Regulations

From the DHS Child Care Services Division in Alabama are as follows:

Conclusion

Web sites often post a list of regulations for childcare centers for the benefit of newcomers to a state. One website, which encompasses the basic data in each locale, is the Childcare Aware.org website. Information includes regulations and important contacts and valuable resources Military families have found this helpful when transferring to a new duty station. The information posted is easy to navigate and understand. The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) provide accredited information in the “Child Care Aware®, a program of Child Care Aware® of America, is partly funded by the Office of Child Care (OCC), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.” (NACCRRA, 2015)

Get Help With Your Essay

If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
Find out more about our Essay Writing Service

In reading over the list of both business positions, I find the most notable differences in requirements of Daycare and Home-based daycare are the director and teacher qualifications. What I do find the most disturbing is the minimum age allowed for both is nineteen (19) years of age. Granted, if a person has the certified credentials, the state licensing bureau will allow the public or private business to operate. Safeguards such as surprise inspections would tend to keep the directors more observant of proper operation requirements. My question is, however, how could a nineteen year old acquire the business knowledge at such a young age?

Home-based daycares operate as babysitting mode while Daycares are more educational based for toddlers and older children. Infants benefit from interaction by responsible adults who are caring for them while the parent is away, which is evident in either daycare or home-based care. Lack of certified personnel (could) harm a child in either business. It is a parent’s responsibility to check thoroughly the credentials of any establishment prior to leaving their child in the hands of caretakers

Website Credibility Ratings:

Alabama Department of Human Resources found at http://dhr.alabama.gov. The State of Alabama is a credible website in that it lists the exact expectations and requirements of all out-of-home childcare. The regulations listed as per the State of Alabama Legislation, which are easily cross-referenced. This website is not a politically run site which invites blogs and advertisements. When cross-referencing any regulation, one can find the citation within the State of Alabama’s laws. If one wishes to take it further, searching within the State of Alabama and its legislative branch of state senators, the original bills and can be found by title or by the names of original house bills as presented to the state.

NACCRRA, or National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies found in numerous locations, listed and categorized in ChildcareAware.org. NACCRRA is responsible for overseeing the content of Childcare Aware. This website has the list of professionals in the field of childcare. The website also includes the accreditation link for education in the childcare field as well as a convenient interactive map to find the specifics of each state for the licensing guidelines. Finally, the website does provide compliant business reference of childcare facilities that adhere to the specifications under the NACCRRA. It is not a politically biased source, nor is it a blog. References

DHR, (2009). Retrieved from http://dhr.alabama.gov/documents/MinimumStandards_DayCare.pdf

DHR, (2009). DHR, (2009). http://dhr.alabama.gov/documents/MinimumStandards_DayCareFamilyHomes.pdf

NACCRRA (2015). State Child Care Licensing. Retrieved from http://www.naccrra.org/about-child-care/state-child-care-licensing

I would like to add a personal note, (and apologize to my professor for doing so in a formal assignment.) In the early 1980’s there were few regulations covering home-based care. I left my four children, ages 5 months to 6 years old, under the care of a person, recommended by a friend, while I worked full time. One day my husband and I arrived to pick up the children in the late evening. The youngest daughter, just barely 5 months old was in the woman’s lap, crying uncontrollably. The caretaker stated that she had been this way for three hours, (and yet she had failed to call me). What I noticed immediately was her right arm was dangling and not tensed up with fist balled like her left side. In questioning the caretaker, she claimed not to have a clue what was wrong with the baby’s arm. We left the other three children with her and headed straight to the hospital.

After processing and viewing the x-ray, local police arrived at the Navy hospital. Not being allowed to see or comfort my baby, but I managed to sneak a peak of the x-rays from a distance. The x-rays revealed the tiny upper arm, the bones formed an “X,” it was no small wonder why the child was so distraught. The authorities chose to accuse me personally with abuse upon my child.

The authorities continually refused to check my whereabouts for the entire day by checking with my employer, which would prove that I did not harm my child. After months of harassment by both Navy and civilian officials, they finally checked both my alibi and the background of the caretaker and her family. This turnabout came when I finally stated that I would sue all involved parties if they did not cease the endless barrage of accusations. The discovery included the revelation that the woman and her older son (age 15) were unfit to be caretakers due to history of mental illness (now called Bi-polar). She finally admitted to the authorities that she and her oldest son had intentionally snapped the baby’s arm. They were frustrated that at 5 months of age the baby was not yet flipping over or attempting to sit up. I had filled the woman in on the baby’s slow development prior to hiring her services. The baby contracted meningitis when she was in the newborn nursery (as had over 90 others during that time); her cognitive and physical development was months behind the standard ‘charts’ for heathy children. I had stayed at the hospital with my one-week-old daughter, defying orders to go home and just forget her. (The commander in charge of the unit said that I already had three children at home, and if I lost her, it would not make any difference! This angered me. They made me stop breast-feeding, claiming the spinal meningitis could have been spread by doing so. When they finally discovered that one infected nurse had caused the outbreak, there was no official apology issued the parents.) I watched babies surround me die from this horrible infection. Those that died did not have their parents with them, holding, rocking, and consoling their babies. (This is yet proof more that a parents contact with their babies gives the infant the love and support so very much required in their cognitive growth.) Sixty-five infants died during a span of one week.

Now that laws and regulations are in place for those that care for our children, if we do not thoroughly check out a person or business, we can blindly place our children in harm’s way.