THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 5, 1996 TAG: 9607040002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 49 lines
As of July 1, in-home day-care providers caring for six or more children must be licensed by the state and comply with a bevy of regulations.
Critics will bemoan this as the latest evidence of an over-regulated society.
But a perusal of the state regulations shows that most are sensible and will help ensure that children being cared for in private homes have at least minimum standards of care, cleanliness and safety.
The licensing procedure itself will help educate some child-care providers about safety and health issues.
Virginia's new rules, for instance, require that providers have smoke detectors in their homes, put mulch under their swing sets to cushion falls, keep nonabsorbant material on their changing tables to prevent the spread of disease, post emergency numbers by the phone and check to see that immunizations are up-to-date. In addition, day-care providers must serve balanced meals, limit television, provide a smoke-free environment for the children, keep bathrooms clean, provide gates at stairways and lock up disinfectants and cleaning agents.
Finally, day-care providers will be required to take at least six hours of training a year.
Most conscientious baby sitters will find that they are already in compliance with the regulations and can qualify for licensing with very few adjustments to their homes. But for careless providers, these rules serve as a stern reminder of the responsibility they have assumed by caring for children.
Only the hopelessly naive would think that government regulations alone can guarantee a safe, nurturing environment for the care of children. However, these minimum standards, combined with loving caretakers and vigilant parents, will go a long way toward making in-home child care the warm alternative it ought to be. And in an era when two-earner households are often a necessity, care must be taken to make day care safe.
A hidden benefit to broader licensing may be that child-care providers who have also been cheating on their income taxes will stop. An official record of a child-care business is bound to be a powerful incentive to pay taxes. It is unconscionable, of course, that any American worker would refuse to pay his fair share of taxes. Yet it is fairly common in this underground economy to take payment in cash - from tax-paying parents - and not report these earnings to the IRS.
We hope these new day-care regulations will lead to an improvement in the quality of care for children. by CNB