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| |    Choosing a Child-Care Site by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. reviewed by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. Many communities have agencies that will provide listings of child-care sites. You can get the number of your local referral agency from Child Care Aware, a program of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA). Reach NACCRRA at www.naccra.org or call the toll-free number, 800-424-2246. You can also check the city or county government listings in the telephone book under "child care." Your local child-care referral agency should be able to give you a list of programs that fit your needs. You can call the programs to get more details about the care they provide. Before settling on a program, it's best to see it firsthand. Visit potential sites Stay for a few hours in each one and watch for warm, nurturing interactions between the caregivers and children, appropriate supervision and safety measures, and whether activities are appropriate to the children's developmental levels. Are the children relaxed? Do they trust the teachers and turn to them for help? Do they cooperate with other children and get involved in few fights? A friendly relationship between teachers and children will show in the relationships among the children. For an excellent guide to help you judge the quality of a site, visit the Zero to Three website at www.zerotothree.org, choose "For Parents" from the menu, and then "Choosing Quality Childcare." Zero to Three is a wonderful organization of early-childhood professionals--teachers, doctors, psychologists, researchers, and others--devoted to improving the lives of very young children. (I have been a member for many years now.) Find out child-to-staff ratio In general, the fewer children an adult has to take care of, the more attentive and responsive that adult can be. The younger the child, the lower the child-to-staff ratio should be. The recommended child-to-staff ratios vary depending on the state and recommending organization; here are some representative figures: Birth to age two: 3:1 25-30 months: 4:1 31-35 months: 5:1 Three years: 7:1 Four and five years: 8:1 Six to eight years: 10:1 9 to 12 years: 12:1. Ask about accreditation, licensing Daycare centers should be licensed by the state. Each state has different licensing rules. (If you're interested, you can read them on the Web at the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care.) Licensing insures that basic health and safety requirements are met, but it doesn't insure high quality. Several national organizations also provide accreditation to child-care sites. This does assure that the sites meet a certain standard of quality, including such things as space, staffing ratios, and staff training. See the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) website for a listing of accredited sites. Talk about:
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