Technical panels worked on particular subject matter areas for more than 2 years, after which time their recommendations were merged into a single set of recommended standards and widely reviewed by the public. The final document represents a consensus of the various disciplines involved with child care, with particular emphasis on the health specializations . All of these are valuable resources, as are many excellent state publications. It is not our intent to duplicate or supplant the efforts of others, but to supplement them from the particular perspective of health and safety.
Health involves more than the absence of illness and injury.
Many child development issues are related to mental health, and many of the more global issues important to mental health and development are also addressed in detailed publications on developmentally appropriate practices by early childhood educators. Some overlap is inevitable and indeed desirable. The need of infants for a consistent, nurturing caregiver is both a mental health issue and a physical health and safety issue. Infants need a primary caregiving relationship to develop trust and the ability to make emotional attachments. Caregivers must be recognized as performing a job for groups of children that parents of twins, triplets, or quadruplets would rarely be considered able to handle alone.