美国国家公共电台 NPR Lack Of Child Care Rating Systems Leaves Parents In A Bind

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Lack Of Child Care Rating Systems Leaves Parents In A Bind¹

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Parents face so many questions about child care - can they afford it, how good is the care and is the setting safe? Well, there's a recent poll done by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health and in it, a vast majority of parents say their child is getting very good or excellent care. But child development experts disagree, rating most care in the United States low quality. Here's more from NPR's Patti Neighmond.

PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE³: Kinsee Morlan and her husband started looking for day care when she was pregnant. Morlan's is a journalist. Her husband works in cybersecurity. They explored lots of options, including large day care centers.

KINSEE MORLAN: For us, the big centers, you know, where you have, like, lines of cribs and lines of rocking chairs was just - I couldn't wrap my brain around that.

NEIGHMOND: So they decided⁴ on a small, home setting, which seemed perfect.

MORLAN: She also had a little preschool room in the back of the house. And it was sort of like this magical little room with glass windows everywhere, and it was really bright. And it was in a garden, and it just seemed like a place where kids would love to be.

NEIGHMOND: The day care was licensed⁵ by the state. And Morlan checked to make sure there were no serious infractions. Six-month-old Harper was enrolled⁶. Everything seemed to be going well until, one day, the caretaker mentioned Harper had been kicking and screaming while in a carseat. Morlan and her husband didn't think much of it until they got home that night.

MORLAN: I went to change his diaper, and I saw these really deep, red abrasions⁷ on his leg.

NEIGHMOND: First-time mom, Morlan says she panicked and took Harper to urgent care.

MORLAN: That's where they sort of gave us this grave look and said, you know, it looks like he was in a car seat or in some sort of child-holding device for way too long.

NEIGHMOND: They decided to keep Harper's care in the family. Morlan took off work one day a week. So did her husband. Harper's grandmother filled in the other three days.

MORLAN: And we did that until he could speak clearly and communicate because I just could not see myself sending him to day care again without him being able to tell me how every single day went and what happened.

NEIGHMOND: Today, Harper's 3 and enrolled in preschool. Every day, Morlan asks him what happened at school. She filed a complaint with Child Protective Services. The investigation⁸ was inconclusive. Now, Morlan's situation is extreme, but it's an example of the difficulty parents face when trying to figure out if a day care program is good, just OK or bad. Susan Hibbard directs the BUILD Initiative, which works with states developing early childhood programs. She says programs should be rated for quality, and it should be as simple as Yelp⁹.

SUSAN HIBBARD: That you know, if you see three stars out of three stars, that your child is going to have teachers there who are nurturing¹⁰ and who have experiences, understand child development, know how to work with your child and help them thrive, regardless of what their home language is.

NEIGHMOND: Some states are working to create online tools based on certain standards. But state standards vary dramatically, and there are no national uniform standards, which makes comparisons difficult. Some states require child care workers have a teaching certificate. Others require certain college courses. Some have strict ratios of how many caregivers per child; others don't. These are all important criteria¹¹, says Hibbard, to determine the quality of a child care facility, especially since recent research shows brain development is far more rapid in the first three years of life than any other time. It's a special and extraordinary opportunity, says Hibbard, to set a foundation for natural curiosity and the ability to learn.

HIBBARD: Clearly, a quality environment allows the child's interests and curiosity to be the lead and not a particular curriculum that requires particular topics today, like, today we'll focus on the color red.

NEIGHMOND: Hibbard says understanding how children learn should define how caregivers teach and that should lead to standards for quality child care, standards parents can use to make informed decisions.

Patti Neighmond, NPR News.