Day-care licensing legislation has won passage in the House on a 61-5 vote, after Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, spent five years relentlessly, but until now unsuccessfully, proposing it. “This is good legislation - it meets the needs of parents for safe child care,” Sayler told the House. “We can’t make it a perfect world for our children, but we can make it a safer world.” The bill requires licensing for day cares that care for seven or more unrelated children, and criminal background checks for those caring for four or more unrelated children. Before the House amended the bill, it required licensing for those caring for four or more unrelated kids. Sayler said inspections and standards for licensed child care centers will help avoid horrendous child abuses cases that have been reported around the state involving day cares, several of which he recounted. The state Department of Health & Welfare will enforce the licensing law. “Their intent is not to put people out of business, their intent is to improve the care of children,” Sayler told the House.

Full text available at The Spokesman-Review.

In March, Melinda McCall of Novato represented area parents at the
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral
Agencies’ (NACCRRA) national policy symposium in Washington, D.C.
She learned about national child care issues and met with members of
Congress on Capitol Hill to advocate for more affordable, high-quality
child care for Novato parents.

McCall, the mother of children who are now 8, 10 and 14, faced
difficulties finding affordable, quality child care when her children were
young. As a teen mother, finding employment that enabled her to
provide for herself and her children was difficult.

Full text available at the Novato Advance.

Twinsburg — Since 1998, when his 5-month old daughter died from injuries she received at an unregulated family child care home, Twinsburg resident Lawrence Hall has worked to improve conditions and create accountability at child care facilities in Ohio.

Last month, he traveled to Washington, D.C., as part of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, to urge lawmakers to continue providing funding for Ohio child care facilities.

“The Child Care Development Block Grant is funding that states already receive,” said Hall, who serves on the Board of Directors for the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association. “Our goal was to urge representatives and senators to sponsor a bill re-authorizing this funding, but we also want to see language of the bill changed to require more inspections of professional child care facilities.”

Full text available at the Twinsburg Bulletin.

This primetime special, presented by Sesame Workshop and featuring Queen Latifah and John Mayer, tells the stories of service members returning home with injuries — both visible and invisible — and explores the heroic struggles their families face on the path to finding a “new normal.”

Tune in April 1 at 8pm on PBS.

Provider Appreciation Day was founded to recognize child care providers, teachers and other educators of young children everywhere.  Momentum and support for this event has grown since 1996, when it began, and recognition has steadily grown to include individuals and government organizations throughout North America, Europe and Asia.  It is truly an international effort! 

This year’s Provider Appreciation Day is Friday, May 8 (always the Friday before Mother’s Day).  It’s a day when individuals (mothers, fathers, grandparents, neighbors) and community leaders can network with child care and early care and education groups to plan events, schedule media coverage and issue proclamations.  We ask you to begin now to contact parents, community groups, child care agencies, government leaders and others so that anyone who wants to support child care providers and educators of young children will have the opportunity to participate in the important recognition events in your community.  

Where are the events in your community?  They are the ones YOU organize and make happen.  There are so many ways to recognize “providers”.   The website, www.providerappreciation.org, lists a multitude of suggestions for events that can be hosted by both organizations and as individuals.  The Web Site also has a link to view past and current events by state to give you resources and ideas when you are organizing events or other organizations in the state you may want to contact.  

Some suggestions include:

Organizations
•        Plan a luncheon or dinner honoring child care providers
•        Hang banners or posters
•        Ask government officials to sign a proclamation
•        Purchase a new piece of equipment for a program in honor of the day
•        Organize a spa day
•        Send a press release to your local newspaper 
•        Invite neighboring early childhood organizations to join you in your celebration

Parents
•        Send flowers, cards or a handwritten note of appreciation
•        Bring breakfast or lunch for your provider and for the kids
•        Work with your child to create a special remembrance
•        Give your provider a paid day off, a raise or a bonus….or that special spa day
•        Inquire if your employer provides scholarships for toys, equipment or training   that you can sponsor as a parent
•        Write an editorial to your local newspaper

Choose a way that will help you show providers and all educators that their efforts do not go unnoticed or unappreciated.  This is also a perfect opportunity to keep the importance of child care and early education in the minds of the community and government officials as well.

To learn more about the ongoing initiatives of Provider Appreciation Day, visit the national Web site jointly sponsored by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) and the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC).  The site has links to templates of sample press releases, government proclamations and news testimonials that you can adapt to send to your local newspaper, radio or other media outlet to let them know about Provider Appreciation Day and any special events you may have planned.  

Please let us know at  www.providerappreciation.org of any community or state events you become involved in so that they can be posted on the Web site.   Help this be truly a community and national movement to recognize and give thanks and appreciation to the hundreds of thousands of child care providers who contribute to the most crucial years in a young child’s life.