One of the hardest decisions parents must make is determining the best day care for their child. A new statewide resource called Child Care Online has promised to help lift that burden off parents and provide a one-stop-shop for locating day care facilities.
“As more and more people go online to search for childcare, this was a natural step,” said Pattie Ryan, deputy director for the Indiana Association for Child Care Resource and Referral, one of the website’s facilitators. “This website helps parents get enhanced information about programs.”
Now parents can go to ChildCareIndiana.org, key in characteristics they desire in a day care center such as the cost, location, number of children in the facility, 24 hour care or if it accepts Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) vouchers and read a child care center’s profile. This service is free.
Mindy Bennett, director of programs for Child Care Answers, another of the website’s facilitators, said Child Care Online doesn’t simply provide a list of centers, but allows parents to take a more detailed look at child care programs, including photos, videos, program descriptions, and the center’s websites to help narrow their options.
Child Care Online is voluntary – centers choose to be listed on the website’s database.
Most importantly, this online tool includes Indiana programs participating in a child care quality rating and improvement system called Paths to Quality.
The goal of Paths to Quality is to help child care providers go above and beyond state standards; and empower families with an easy to understand consumer guide to choosing the care that is best for their children.
Paths to Quality child care programs are rated one through four. Level four ensures national accreditation; three means the site has implemented an Indiana Department of Education curriculum; in level two, a special environment has been set up for learning to occur; and level one means that basic health and safety has been met.
Parents must keep in mind that Paths to Quality is voluntary, therefore not every day care listed on Child Care Online has been rated.
Bennett said no matter what parents are looking for in a program, day care centers should at least have experienced staff who interact with the children and a good staff to child ratio. Additionally, parents should observe that the centers have happy children and their protocol if there are disciplinary issues among children. It’s also important to note safe and ample toys; safe sleeping practices; and a clean, odor free facility.
The Child Care Online page also has a link to Care Finder (www.in.gov/fssa/carefinder), a state-operated child care regulation compliance website. There, parents can see the latest inspections and other violations documented by state day care licensing consultants.
“Care Finder simply has what the results were for the inspections. It doesn’t have search criteria such as hour of operation or training requirements. Child Care Online works in conjunction with Care Finder,” said Bennett.
When doing their search at ChildCareIndiana.org, parents should also understand that there are different types of child care and different regulations that apply to each type.
Melanie Brizzi, administrator for the Indiana Bureau of Child Care said there are three main types of day care. Licensed centers, such as Learning Time or Kinder Care, are located in a commercial building and have a larger number of children. They have the most extensive regulations such director and staff education requirements and a curriculum. There are licensed family child care homes, located in a residential building, who are also strongly regulated. Staff must meet training requirements and meet discipline, nutrition, health and safety standards among others.
Lastly, there are unlicensed registered ministries, which are located in any kind of building and operated by a church or faith-based organization.
Faith-based day cares are exempt from most of the regulations that licensed providers must meet – they are, however, required to meet basic sanitation and fire safety regulations.
“We also have a whole other category of licensed exempt providers including any program that operates for fewer than four hours a day,” said Brizzi. “Most pre-schools are licensed exempt – so are before and after care and summer programs.”
State day care licensing consultants inspect unlicensed registered ministries twice a year but no more than four times; licensed providers have at least one inspection per year, but are not limited to the number of inspections.
“That’s why Child Care Online is so important, because there are so many disparities and this can get a bit confusing. This helps parents make an informed decision. They need to have all the facts,” said Brizzi.
Child Care Online is not a substitute for parents visiting and interviewing facilities. It is also suggested that parents visit facilities more than once and at unusual times during the day.
For more information, call (317) 636-5727 or visit www.childcareindiana.org.
