Credentials

A couple of days ago, I let my feelings be known, about the situation in Texas where a day-care provided is accused of endangering her young charges to the point where some of them ended up dead.  Accused, my ass.  There is tape of someone who looks like her at Target at the time the fire started, witness saw her pulling up in a car while smoke was already coming out of her house, and 4 little children ended up dying.  I'm not a jury...there is no need for me to be objective....in my mind, she is guilty as hell, and bad, bad things need to happen to her. 

And, now, like after all tragedy, let's see what we can do to legislate the unthinkable so that it never happens again.  The uproar now going on is over whether this young lady was qualified to be providing child-care or not.  Legally, she was covered.  In Texas, all it takes to be a licensed Home Child Care Provided is that you are over 21, have high-school diploma or equivalent, be certified in First Aid and CPR, and have completed a criminal back-ground check, and complete an 8-hour orientation class.  The State will then complete an official on-site visit, and you are good to go for watching up to TWELVE CHILDREN?!?!?!?

Truthfully, that number is my only hard spot with the process.  12 Kids is a LOT of children.  The only thing that really effects that number is the amount of babies you have...having children under the age of 18 months really hurts your total capacity.  1 Baby brings to you 10 other kids.  2 Babies = 8 other kids.  3 Babies = 4 older kids, and 4 babies would be your total capacity.  Still...thinking of ten 3-5 year olds(perfectly legal) in lone location makes my skin crawl.  That is where as a parent you need to ask some questions and figure out what you are comfortable with.  I know when my wife was researching places, she would not have accepted a 12-1 ratio...I'm not sure we ever went over 5 to 1 or so...but we have that luxury...I'm aware not everyone does.

So, other than my own personal version of hell being 10 four year old kids flinging monkey-poo at each other, I really m not certain there needs to be any other criteria.  This...female did what she was legally required to do.  The parents did what they were supposed to do, bringing their kids to a licensed child-care provider. 

Linda Smith, Executive Director of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies(what a mouthful) says her group believes all child-care operators should require a minimum of 40-hours of training before going into business.  I wish the interviewer had asked her who would provide that training...perchance the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agency?  Wonder if they are thinking about how much money they could make getting $200 for a one week class from every home child care provider.  Of course, then you might need a refresher every two years, for another $200.

I understand that there are differences in the child-care quality at home day cares, and your fancy big Day Care Centers, and then, at Pre-Schools.  For a while we were paying for my daughters to go to a Montessori Pre-school, and after a while, we decided we could use that money in other ways, and had the younger one go to a home day care, while her older sister went to school, and used that same day care for after school care.  Was she learning stuff, and as excited about her day when I picked her up?  No...but she was clean, fed and not abused...that was what I was paying for. 

"If you want more skilled (child-care workers), then you're going to have to pay more money," said Heather Boushey, an economist who specializes in family issues for the nonprofit Center for American Progress in Washington. "And if you have to pay more, then you'll have to subsidize it more. That's the problem."

Heck...I'm NOT an economist who specializes in ANYTHING.  I'm a normal guy, who knows that 90% of the time, you get what you pay for...for ANYTHING...cars, clothes, and child care.  We find ourselves going back to that same place where the pot is empty.  Subsidized money for child care is one of those areas where funds are going to get tighter, not more freely flowing.  

In the end, even the Executive Director of  the NACCRRA gets it, somewhat:

"I know you can't regulate the insanity of a woman leaving the kids to go the store," she said. "But, in some ways, screening and oversight would prevent so much of this."

But, there was screening, and oversight!  Your just upset it's not YOUR organization being paid to do it.