06 Apr Keeping Kids Safe in Child Care Settings
Child abuse prevention month is a time to raise awareness about the factors that contribute to abuse and opportunities for prevention. Unfortunately, the youngest and most vulnerable children are the most impacted. Children between the ages of birth and four are at highest risk for abuse with children under the age of one having the highest rate. Parents of infants are often sleep deprived and under large amounts of stress, so when an infant consistently cries, it can be a trigger for an adult who is already struggling with his or her coping skills or experiencing additional stressors.
Who Cares for Young Children?
In order for parents and caregivers to survive the day to day grind, there may be multiple people who play important roles in caring for a young child, including extended family. Census data shows us that one in five parents rely on a family member to care for a child instead of formal child care. Next to family care, approximately 60% of young children are enrolled in at least one type of non-familial care, such as family child care homes or child care centers. Even though a large percentage of children spend their time with child care providers, less than 1% of reported child abuse cases in the US occur in child care programs. After first glance that seems minimal, but every one case of child abuse it too many!
Abuse in Child Care Programs
There are several factors that can increase the likelihood of abuse in a child care program including:
— Failure to complete background checks on staff members
— Low wages contributing to high staff turnover rates
— A lack of training on how to support children in the classroom
— A large number of children in one classroom contributing to teacher stress
— Staff members working alone and unsupervised for longer periods of time
These risk factors can make it difficult for even a high quality child care program to keep children safe. You can read more about this topic in KYA’s Issue Brief: Improving the Safety of Kentucky’s Youngest Children.
How to Find a Quality Child Care Program
In order to make sure that your young child is in a safe child care environment, here are some things you should ask about when selecting a program:
— Have all staff completed a background check, including a Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) registry check?
— What are the adult-to-child ratios in each classroom and what is the maximum number of children that will be in the room? The lower, the better!
— How many teachers are in the classroom and how long have the teachers been there? Lower turnover shows that teachers enjoy working in the program.
— What types of annual training does the administer and the teaching staff complete each year? Do trainings include how to support children with challenging behaviors?
— Has anyone in the child care program ever been accused of abuse before? Staff may not feel comfortable asking this question, but each regulated child care program has an online history of citations in the state database. Click here to find your program.
— Is there an open-door policy for families to come into the program and observe?
Also, it is important to look at each classroom to see if there are lots of developmentally-appropriate materials available for the children. When children stay busy, there are fewer behavior problems and a much smaller risk of abuse in the classroom. Finally, look to see how the teaching staff interacts with the children. Are they down on the floor with the children, talking to them and playing with them? If so, there are stronger relationships being established between a child and a child care provider and a much smaller chance for abuse.
Our goal is for every Kentucky early childhood classroom to be a safe and loving environment. When you have concerns, remember to speak up to your child’s teacher or director so that they can support the learning environment as quickly as possible.