The Problem of Child Safety in the Field of Child Care - Research Paper Example

?Improving Child Care Safety in US Introduction A great deal of importance is attached to child care and early education in the US due to its significance in the physical and emotional development, and wellbeing of children (Shope and Aronson, 2005). That is why pediatricians are always concerned about the quality and standards of child care services. Most quality and safety standards aim at reducing the risks of diseases, disability, and deaths among children. Much of the concern regarding child care safety arises from demographic changes in the US where mothers resume their work only after a few months of maternal leave after giving birth (Shope and Aronson, 2005). As a result, children spend more time outside home rather than with their parents. Most of the child care service providers in the US operate under unlicensed and unchecked contexts where the caregivers often lack formal training in the discipline. Since these services are more convenient and less expensive for the parents, they prefer sending their children to neighborhood childcare centers. There have been many well documented cases of children getting injured while in day care centers including falls, poisoning, drowning, electric shock, and so on (Runyan and Gray et al., 1991). A large number of children attend organized group child care and a significant number of them get injuries while in the day care. Hence, the safety of children in child care has become a public health concern. After the instance of child care issues and safety concerns, several legislative efforts have been made. Although no formal federal regulations existed previously except for a few centers, regulations and licensing procedures now exist to provide a standard for child care center and their safety. Several bodies of pediatricians and other social workers exist that work to improve the safety and standards of child care. By publishing research, books, articles, and other resources, they educate the general public about the importance of child care safety. For children to learn and grow well it is important for us to create a safe and healthy atmosphere where children feel safe. The key players in the healthy growth and development of children are child care professionals including teachers and caregivers therefore they must be trained in order to educate and aid healthy growth of children (“Stepping Stones to Caring for Our Children”, 2013). Advocacy Efforts Several legislative efforts were made since the documentation of child care injuries and diseases in day care centers. Now child care laws and licensing regulations and standards exist. These provide specific rules and requirements for quality standards and licensing of child care centers. Each state has a different rule or procedure for child care even though most of these regulations coincide. The government of US has defined a broad set of disease and injury prevention improvements, medication requirements, and so on, as a general policy. The US government also raises child care awareness among people, aids research and publication in the field, and funds the training of child care professionals (Office of Child Care, 2013). Although the US government has been keen on financing early child care and development, several public notions has inhibited the thoughtful federal government gesture. Many people believe that raising their own child is a matter between the parents and the child and therefore should involve no government intervention. Also, a public view which supports only mother care is against the federal financing of child care. Such attitudes towards government financing of child care has obstructed the consistency of federal financing. However, such values have shown a decline particularly after the increase of employed women in the US workforce (Cohen, 1996). Initially, only state governments enforced child care laws except a few federally regulated child care centers (Runyan and Gray et al., 1991). Now, the US government has its own separate Office for Child Care that provides guidelines regarding licensing and other regulations. It also funds research and publication in the field and child care awareness programs (2013). Apart from the federal government, bodies of pediatricians have made an effort to raise child care research and awareness. The American Public Health Association (APHA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) provided safety guidelines for child care centers in 1992 and this guideline acted as a standard for child care (Addiss and Sacks et al., 1994; “Stepping Stones to Caring for Our Children”, 2013). The National Health and Safety Performance Standards provides certain guidelines regarding constructive activities at day care centers to promote healthy development among children (“Stepping Stones to Caring for Our Children”, 2013). Since child care centers provide numerous indoor and outdoor activities to involve the children, it is necessary that these activities follow certain rules so as to provide a healthy environment to help develop the child. Any problems or issues should be discussed with the child’s parents. According to the guidelines, the child should also have routine checks by his or her primary care provider which includes screening tests, vaccinations, and so on (“Stepping Stones to Caring for Our Children”, 2013). All meals and food prepared for children must meet the requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) child care section to ensure healthy and hygiene nutrition for children (“Stepping Stones to Caring for Our Children”, 2013). Current Status of the Issue Currently a large number of working parents send their children to child care centers. However, a growing number of parents are seeking grandparents to provide child care services for their grandchildren (Ho, 2012). A recent research has found out that sixty percent of grandparents provide at least some form of child care to their grandchildren. Among them, seventy percent of the grandparents had given their services for two years or more. The study suggested that different forms of child care are given by grandparents who usually have low income and less education. The research also demonstrates the US census data which indicated the importance of grandparents in child care (Ho, 2012). The US census mentions child care providers as either relatives or non-relatives and therefore incorporates grandparents as essential care providers (Laughlin, 2011). About sixty one percent of children aged 5 receive some form of child care with via child care arrangement or otherwise. A great number of children receive relative child care form grandparents after the mother. Child care provided by fathers comes next to that provided by grandparents. Although grand parents may not possess formal training in child care however it is very unlikely that children will be given an unhealthy environment for growth and development. This option is often preferred by parents today in order to relieve them of the high child care costs that day care centers charge and provide them with reliable people to take care of their children. Although child care arrangements still hold a lot of importance among parents, many employed mothers prefer their children to be taken care of by family members rather than non-relatives (Laughlin, 2011). For preschoolers, fathers and grandparents are important caregivers who are often trusted with child care services. A very low percentage of preschoolers were taken care of by employed mothers while working as compared to twenty eight percent by self-employed mothers. Most non-employed mothers used grandparents to provide child care services and only a small percentage of children of non-employed mothers took child care arrangements (Laughlin, 2011). The most amount of time spent by children of employed mothers is at child care arrangements followed by day care centers and family day cares. A significant number of children receive child care services from grandparents. Even for non-employed mothers, most children received child care services from day care centers followed by arrangements and family day care. Children spend a considerable amount of time with their grandparents for both employed as well as non-employed mothers. The only exception with this data is the emergence of grandparents as important child care providers (Laughlin, 2012). Child care centers have been recognized as important institutions for child growth and development. Initially child care regulations were governed and enforced by state government apart from a few federally regulated child care centers. The increasing popularity of child care centers and then the legislative efforts made by several bodies of pediatricians encouraged a federal regulation so as to provide quality services to children. Federal financing of child care programs was also hurdled by certain parenting values that discouraged government intervention on the matter. Furthermore, mothers who considered themselves to be the best caregivers did not like the idea of financed child care. Conclusion Realizing the importance of child care safety and standards, various pediatric bodies made an attempt to get regulated child care that was guided by certain rules and licensing procedures. Bodies of pediatricians including APHA, AAP, NRC, etc created and published a guideline for safe and healthy child care. This provided a framework which was accepted as the first step towards a standardized child care facility. This guideline proposed certain measures that could help in reducing diseases and injuries to the child. It helped child care centers create a healthy and safe environment for children so that they learn and grow well. References Addiss, D., Sacks, J., Kresnow, M., O'neil, J. and Ryan, G. (1994). The Compliance of Licensed US Child Care Centers With National Health and Safety Performance Standards. American Journal of Public Health, 84 (7), pp. 1161-1164. Cohen, A. (1996). A brief history of federal financing for child care in the United States. The Future of Children, pp. 26-40. Ho, C. (2012). Grandparents as Caregivers: Current Trends. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112689492/grandparenting-trends-090712/ [Accessed: 22 Nov 2013]. Laughlin, L. (2011). Who's Minding the Kids? Child Care Arrangements: Spring 2011. Household Economic Studies. Office of Child Care (2013). Office of Child Care Initiatives. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/initiatives [Accessed: 22 Nov 2013]. Runyan, C., Gray, D., Kotch, J. and Kreuter, M. (1991). Analysis of US Child Care Safety Regulations. American Journal of Public Health, 81 (8), pp. 981-985. Shope, T. and Aronson, S. (2005). Improving The Health And Safety Of Children In Nonparental Early Education And Child Care. Pediatrics in Review, 26 (3), pp. 86-95. AAP, APHA, and NRC. (2013). Stepping Stones to Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs. [e-book]. pp. 1-151. Available through: NRC Kids http://nrckids.org/index.cfm/products/stepping-stones-to-caring-for-our-children-3rd-edition-ss3/stepping-stones-to-caring-for-our-children-3rd-edition-ss3/ [Accessed: 22 Nov 2013]. Read More