How good is your daycare?

A nationwide survey says many states are getting lazy when it comes to regulating childcare centers. It ranks the military's system as the best. Out of the 50 states, Pennsylvania comes in at number 15. Ewa Roman talked with a spokesperson for all childcare centers in the state to see how she plans on making things better.

It can rattle some parents. For Keena Synder of New Cumberland, finding child care was tougher than expected. “You want to find a place that like---no place is gonna take as good car of your kid as you are."

That's why Keena is thankful for organizations like the National Association of Child Care Resources, a group that recently ranked states in oversight of childcare centers.

Keena: “I'm glad there's somebody out there that helps parents because as a first time parent you don't really know what to look for."

The report puts Pennsylavania at number 15 out of 50 states.

A fairer way to fund child care

Karine Boissonneault and Pascal Drouin, parents of four children under age 10, would use Mario Dumont's proposed subsidy of $5,200 per year per child to buy diapers, they told the CBC.

That is possibly not what the leader of Action democratique had in mind with his proposal. But that's freedom of choice in action. Let parents spend a subsidy as they want on their children and they might not choose daycare.

Subsidized $5-a-day daycare, launched in 1997 and later raised to $7-a-day, has proved one of the most popular measures ever introduced in Quebec - for those families lucky enough to land a place. And no wonder. The real cost of the service is about $39 per child per day. Picking up the $32 parents don't pay will cost the government of Quebec roughly $1.5 billion this year.

Study says Idaho ranks last in childcare

Idaho is worst in the nation when it comes to having someone take care of our kids, according to a study released last week by The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
The study faults Idaho's child care regulations and ranked the state last, after Louisiana.
The national standard for toddler childcare is one staff person to every six children. In Idaho, there are three variations; one staff to six children for children under 18 months, one staff to 12 children for ages 18 months to five years and one staff to 18 children for ages five years and older.
Criteria for the rankings included caseloads for center inspectors, frequency of inspections, health and safety requirements, background checks, staff qualifications and activities offered to children.

Daycare Closing

Kate Henley says she was upset when she learned the daycare would be closing. "That's my job for one and it's where my kids have gone to daycare for a little over a year.
Kayla Groseclose shares Henley's frustrations. "The teachers are great and he has learned a lot since he's been in there and I don't know that I can find another daycare that will give him what he got there."
Jeff and Terry Stump own the daycare. They say they've been losing money for the last year and that expenses exceed income.
Some people are upset about the short notice, but the owners say it's enough time for parents to find another daycare and for employees to find another job. They say it's better than closing the daycare without any notice at all.
They say in order to stay open, they would have to increase the daycare fees, which would be too much for parents.

Daycare with a vision

Dozens of children dashed around the New England Sports Academy yesterday morning, climbing over obstacle courses, swinging on trapezes and tossing baseballs, and if owner Henry Shterenberg has his way, the facility will soon add a daycare contingent to its offerings.
Shterenberg envisions the program, called Super Kid Academy Childcare, as balancing fitness with academics at the 345 University Ave. site. If approved by the town and state, the daycare would complement the New England Sports Academy’s existing multitude of activities for children and adults, which includes baseball, basketball, boxing, martial arts and weights.
"We want to put athletics education on the same level as academic education," Shterenberg said.
The fitness education component has the objective of combatting childhood obesity.