Making childcare work for you

CHILDCARE costs have rocketed in recent years, pricing many parents out of the market. Some families have to rely on friends and relatives to look after the kids to enable them to go out to work.

Other mums have given up their careers because soaring childcare bills have made going back to work financially unviable.

While those who do go back to work as soon as maternity leave ends face hefty nursery bills or nanny fees at the end of each month.

A survey by The Daycare Trust charity found that a typical full-time nursery place for a child under two is £152 a week – a rise of six per cent on last year.

Kate Goddard, the charity's policy and research officer, said that as there is no government regulation of childcare costs, prices can vary widely especially in regions such as the north west with nurseries and childminders in more affluent areas charging more for their services.

State checking safety of daycare centers

State environmental officials are asking polluters to make sure that they aren't putting children in nearby day care centers in danger, according to a newspaper report.

In a letter dated Jan. 29, Department of Environmental Protection officials asked owners of businesses that have groundwater pollution under their facilities to determine whether the contaminants have reached day care centers nearby.

DEP Assistant Director of Remediation, Ron Corcory, said the letters were "purely precautionary" and did not indicate that the department feels children are at risk.

The letter stems from mercury contamination that was found at a day care center in Gloucester County's Franklin Township. The school was built on the same site where a thermometer factory used to do business.