Choosing the correct day care is a task that all parents take seriously. Parents know that day care will have a major impact on their child's life. Who will do the best job? Where is the best placement?
Indicators of a Good Child Care
Research has been done on what makes a good day care. All studies point to the same thirteen indicators. The indicators include cleanliness, training, safety, and ratio requirements. The child care administration has found that requiring these indicators in the licensing process makes the day care a safer, healthier and happier environment for children.
These indicators, while required for licensing, may not be practiced daily at the day care. Some indicators, like ratio, are followed but others, like the cleanliness of the diapering station often fall by the wayside.
Some of the biggest concerns for parents are the child abuse indicator and the staff qualification indicator.
Child Abuse in the Day Care
Parents, rightly so, are worried about how their children will be treated at the day care facility. Will he get enough attention? Will he be treated fairly?
More pressing, however, is the fear of abuse. Research conducted has shown that significantly more abuse occurs in home day care than in centers. Leslie Margolin reported findings in the article "Abuse and Neglect in Non Parental Child Care: a Risk Assessment" in the 1991 issue of Journal of Marriage and the Family. The study also found a correlation between the gender and age of the caregiver. Men were the abusers 40% of the time, although they were the caregiver in only 6.1% of the time. Adolescents were the abusers 44% of the time but were the caregiver only 8.5% of the time.
Margolin's study also shows that babies were three times as likely to be neglected and the amount was significantly higher in home day cares than at centers. Again, adolescents were the largest group to neglect.
