ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 6, 1996 TAG: 9609060037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SPOTSYLVANIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
The recent deaths of two children while in the care of their Spotsylvania County baby sitters have renewed calls for better monitoring of people who provide child care in homes.
Kandy Brooks-Hilliard, who works for the Fredericksburg area's private Childcare Network referral service, said child-care providers across Virginia have been urging state lawmakers to set standards for some time.
Last year, she and other members of the Virginia Association for Early Childhood Education tried unsuccessfully to find a lawmaker to introduce a bill setting more stringent rules for residential child-care providers.
The proposal would have required that all paid child-care providers and adults living in a provider's residence submit to criminal background checks and that the residence meet state health and safety standards.
Virginia law allows individuals to care for up to five children without state or local oversight, although they are encouraged to register with the state. People who care for more than five children other than their own must be licensed by the state.
Alicia Knight, a child-care provider in Stafford County, said Virginia should pattern its laws after Maryland's. In Maryland, any nonrelative paid to care for a child outside of the child's home for more than 20 hours a month must be licensed.
Del. William J. Howell, R-Stafford County, said Virginia should not go that far. He questioned whether tougher standards would have prevented the Aug. 23 deaths of 8-month-old Rana Massey and 2-year-old Shanarra Pryor.
Doctors said Rana died Aug. 23 of injuries resulting from shaken baby syndrome. Police have charged the infant's sitter, Laurie S. Campbell, with second-degree murder. Shanarra drowned in her baby sitter's pool. Her sitter, Frances E. Brash, was charged with neglect.
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