<<
back to Child Care Resource and Referral
Quality Child Care: What Parents
Can Do
At
The Center Your Child Attends:
- Visit
during the day. Organize a rotation with other parents.
Arrange with employers to get an occasional hour to "drop
in."
- Look for efforts
ensuring quality development, such as accreditation by NAEYC,
the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Also look for involvement with other agencies that offer
training and advocate quality care, including LAEYC - the
Louisiana Association for the Education of Young Children
- and Child Care Resources. Work
to fight the cycle of "low fees = low salaries = low
standards." Get involved in fund raising or help out
during the day -with snacks, transportation, whatever is
best for you.
- Communicate
with the center staff and directors to give yourself insight
into the program, to track your child's development and
to ensure a good working relationship with caregivers. Communicate
with other parents to create a joint awareness of the child
care facility - so that more parents become involved with
the center, in an effort to enhance the quality of their
service.
- Let caregivers
know that you appreciate the difficulty and importance of
the service they provide - and that quality is important
to you.
In
the Community:
- Continue to
be informed and involved. Quality child care is an ongoing
effort involving parents, providers, government agencies
and advocates.
- Spread the word
that high standards, supported by adequate resources, will
only happen in a community that truly puts children first.
- Demand that
state licensing staff be increased,
and that they be required to make unannounced visits.
- Licensing inspectors
should "follow their hunches" about centers that
seem to be barely holding things together. Repeat visits
should be made.
- Licensing violations
should be prioritized. An error in the fire drill schedule
and a missing item in the first-aid kit are potential hazards
to children. A complete absence of structure, nurture and
supervision are actual and immediate hazards and must be
treated as such.
- Watch the media
for issues affecting children. Respond to issues reported
and take action when you know there are important issues
receiving insufficient coverage. Let media know you appreciate
their coverage and are interested.
Call
Licensing (504-922-0015 in Baton Rouge)
or Child Care Resources (504-586-8509) with any
questions, problems, or complaints.
<< back to Child
Care Resource and Referral in Metro New Orleans
|
