The Truth About the Regulation of Day Care Centers

                With all of the talk of regulating industries, I wondered about the role of regulation in day care centers.  We have all heard the many horror stories that make their rounds on the evening news across the country, babies left unattended for long periods of time, overcrowding of small day care centers, and unsanitary practices.  Although these stories are sensational, they don’t represent the average day care center.  Without the direct oversight that parents have over their personal nannies, I began to wonder: who is watching the people who are watching the kids in the day care centers?

                The answer to this question is rather unsettling.  Every state sets the laws that dictate what type of oversight the state government will have over the child care centers, so there are varying levels depending on the state.  However, compared to what is recommended by childcare experts, most states do not do nearly enough to keep tabs on the day care centers.  In California, inspectors are required to check day care centers once every five years.  Compare that to the once a year mandatory inspections of dog kennels and twice a year inspections of restaurants and the frequencies do not mirror priorities.¹  In Pennsylvania, the situation is ugly.  The state employs 60 inspectors to cover the 8,500 day care centers registered in the state.²  I don’t know about you, but I think it is impossible for 60 people to inspect those 8,500 centers enough to provide the level of comfort and safety we demand for our most precious possessions.  Beyond that, Pennsylvania licenses centers, not the people working in the centers.  Therefore, the owners of the centers, possibly attempting to cut costs, could hire less qualified employees to work in their centers with no fear of repercussion to their license.  This gives the ability of child care centers who have been exposed for different violations to simply blame an employee, fire that employee, and continue on with business as usual.  As I write this, I become progressively more wary of the day care center system.  The worst part about this whole thing is, with the budget cuts that most states are passing throughout this financial downturn, the chances that the oversight of child care centers will decrease is greater than the chances that more money is spent to increase oversight.  Scary, huh?

                After examining the day-care centers, I had to compare them to the nanny industry and its regulation.  The greatest difference between the two is the personalized nature of the nanny industry versus the one adult to a group of children nature of day care.  When using a nanny referral agency, before parents even interview a nanny, they have been run through a gauntlet of background checks and reference checks.  These practices are outlined by the International Nanny Association on their website as Recommended Practices for Nanny Placement Agencies. By virtue of the job, parents, if they choose to, can observe the nannies through a variety of mediums.  The parents also provide the venue in which the child spends a majority of time, the household.  The common theme within all of these regulating tools is that they can vary from home to home, depending on the wishes of a parent.  With day care centers, it is the one-size-fits-all model that acts as the safeguard.  And if that model isn’t good enough, you may just be out of luck.

           1. http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/
             2. http://www.wtae.com/