The value of good child care cannot be understated, yet far too many children continue to be denied quality care. Many children spend their formative years in settings that are unsafe or only custodial. Parents are being lured into accepting listings of caregivers from various caregiver groups without the support and information they need to properly access a provider or facility. Still others simply choose the first caregiver or facility they come across based on price and convenience. We spend more time choosing a vehicle or for that matter a pet, than we do choosing a quality child care setting.
Parents know what they want from child care.
A study conducted by Child Care Aware, an on-going public awareness campaign sponsored by the Dayton Hudson foundation and other valuable child care organizations in the U.S. points out that parents are highly concerned about quality, about the basic physical safety and security of their children, about positive emotional and learning experiences, about affection and fair discipline, about caregiver turnover. Sadly though, parents are less concerned about how to choose a child care setting that would produce these outcomes. Yet many are dissatisfied with their current child care arrangements or have experienced poor quality care in the past. Some tell horror stories of infants being scared to go to a facility, hours spent in passive activities, or children left soiled or unattended. The problems are exacerbated for new parents, who may lack reliable contacts who can recommend good care, knowledge about what is reasonable to expect, and the perspective that comes from greater parenting experience.