Celebrating Child Care Providers in Washington!

Today is Provider Appreciation Day, a time for us to all celebrate the efforts of providers who care for and educate our state’s children. Here’s a message to providers from DEL Director Ross Hunter:

A Washington child care provider
comforting a sick child.

“Earlier this week I was asked to record a video for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction reminiscing about a teacher who had been powerful in my life, as part of National Teacher Appreciation Week. It was really easy, fun, and made me smile to think about the impact my high school calculus teacher had on my understanding about how the world of mathematics actually works. Despite my fondness for Mr. Machemer, in the real world, pre-school and childcare teachers are where the impact on children’s developing brains is most powerful.

The opportunity you have as teachers of our littlest, most sponge-like kids is incredible, and you really can change the world for the better.

Thank you for your commitment, your love for the children in your care, and for the positive impact you have on our littlest learners.”

Click here to learn more about Provider Appreciation Day. Share your stories of great child care providers with us on Facebook or on Twitter @DEL_wa! #ProviderAppreciationDay

Child Care Emergency Preparedness in the Washington Wildfires

Called a "slow-motion disaster" by Governor J. Inslee, this summer's wildfires have claimed hundreds of thousands of acres of land and three lives.

Among the affected areas in Washington is the city of Omak and among the many families who experienced loss and property damage are child care providers in that area.

Brianne Gates is a fairly new family home child care provider in Omak.

"I started my business in April," said Gates. "But I grew up helping at my aunt's day care. If you were going to be there, you were going to help. I've been around child care for a long time."

Today, Bree's Child Care (Gates' business) welcomes six children ranging in age from eight months to six years old. Gates herself is currently expecting her second child, and experienced the fires while approaching her eighth month of pregnancy.

"I got a phone call from a friend at the fire department at 12:20 in the afternoon. The kids were finishing lunch," said Gates.

The community in which Gates lives had been on alert since early-mid August as a fire across the river from her home had started due to lightning. On this day in particular, the winds had increased at a dangerous rate.

Gates' contact at the fire department told her that the fire had jumped the river and was now on a road very close to her home.

Thankfully, Gates has a clear policy and procedure for emergency situations, and she is careful to communicate this with parents.

"When I first consider accepting a new child into my care, I invite both a parent and the child to my home," said Gates. "I spend the meeting time getting to know their child, interacting with them, and following along as the parent reads my policies."

Gates is available to answer questions, as well as point out highlighted portions of her policies such as her emergency preparedness and evacuation policies. Gates also holds periodic drills for earthquakes and other disasters.

"After I got the call from the fire department, I issued a group text to the parents telling them we were planning to evacuate for the safety of the children," said Gates. 

Within minutes every parent had responded, asking if Gates and the children were already at the designated space (a department store's large concrete parking lot, about one mile from the home--where much of the community stayed the night in campers).

"I was amazed that the parents remembered the place we were supposed to go, and even more amazed at how fast they responded to the situation," said Gates. "There are other providers in my community that experienced property damage and did not have the same good luck with parents."

According to Gates, the evacuation process took around 10 minutes and was very successful. Bree's Child Care was out of business for several days following the evacuation.

"When it was bad, you could see this red cloud coming at us--filled with hot embers. We were close to losing our house, but we didn't," said Gates. "By the following week, we were back down to a [alert] level 1."

With the support of her community and the help of parents, no child was harmed and Gates did not experience property loss.

Gates' experience is a great example of how important consistent communication is for parents and providers. Having an emergency preparedness plan is just one of the ways Washington's child care providers promote child health and safety. To find out about emergency preparedness levels, go here: Wildfire Levels.

To learn more about licensed child care in Washington, go here: Licensed Child Care.

5 Tips for Water Safety in Washington

With the recent increase in temperature around the Pacific Northwest, families have been flocking to the water to cool off. With more and more traffic to Washington's water bodies, it is more important than ever to consider safety before heading to the lake, river, beach or pool.

Safety Tip 1: Always swim with a partner, every time — whether you're swimming in a backyard pool or in a lake. Even experienced swimmers can become tired or get muscle cramps, which might make it difficult to get out of the water. When people swim together, they can help each other or go for help in case of an emergency.

Safety Tip 2: Know your limits. Swimming can be a lot of fun — and you might want to stay in the water as long as possible. If you're not a good swimmer or you're just learning to swim, don't go in water that's so deep you can't touch the bottom and don't try to keep up with skilled swimmers. That can be hard, especially when your friends are challenging you — but it's a pretty sure bet they'd rather have you safe and alive.

Safety Tip 3: Swim in safe areas only. Swimming in an open body of water (like a river, lake, or ocean) is different from swimming in a pool. You need more energy to handle the currents and other changing conditions in the open water.

If you do find yourself caught in a current: 

• don't panic
• don't fight the current
• try to swim parallel to the shore until you are able to get out of the current
• gradually try to make your way back to shore 
• if you are unable to get to shore, stay calm and float with the current--the current will usually slow down, then you can swim to shore.

Some areas with extremely strong currents are off limits when it comes to swimming. Do your research so you know where not to swim, and pay attention to any warning signs posted in the area.

The Washington State Department of Ecology has a consistently updated webpage indicating which popular swimming areas (on the coast and around the Puget Sound) are safe for swimming and which areas are closed for a variety of reasons.

The WA State Department of Ecology's coastal atlas with beach closures and cautions.

Safety Tip 4: Consider the season. 

According to the Washington State Department of Health, at any time of year, WA waters can be appealing and dangerous at the same time:

• Spring – Rivers are often high and swift from rains and snow melt and can easily overwhelm the strongest swimmer. Even on hot spring days, lakes, ponds, and rivers are still cold and are dangerous for swimmers. Hypothermia can occur quickly in very cold water.
• Summer – Water that is warm on the surface, may be much colder below. Use caution when swimming and always supervise young children playing in or near the water. Rivers may not be moving as fast, but log jams can trap swimmers and large rocks and logs could tip over rafts, canoes, and kayaks. Illnesses can be prevented by not swallowing the water – learn more about recreational water illnesses.
• Autumn – Early warm days of autumn can be like summer. But like spring, this time of year is unpredictable - be prepared for sudden weather changes and cold water later in the season.
• Winter – Waters are always cold and can quickly go from being very calm to very rough, especially during storms. If you are on the water for hunting, fishing, or recreation, wear protective gear and life jackets. Tell someone where you are going and when you plan to return, and be prepared for sudden weather changes.

*Pay special attention to the Spring and Summer pointers as we are currently experiencing warmer than usual temperatures in this state!

Safety Tip 5: Remember to wear a life jacket. According to the Washington State Department of Health, even the best water enthusiasts can misjudge changing water conditions when boating or swimming in open water. Be prepared at all times by wearing a life jacket – you'll never know when you'll be tossed into the water.

• Have children wear a life jacket that fits them, and watch them closely around water – they can go under water quickly and quietly.
• Children 12 years old and under must wear a life jacket that fits them on moving boats less than 19 feet in length in Washington.
• Recreational boats must carry one U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket for each person aboard. The life jacket must be available and accessible. This is a nationwide Coast Guard rule.

The Seattle Children's Hospital webpage devoted to Water Safety and Drowning Prevention offers a lot of interesting and essential resources on water safety--many including the importance of wearing a life jacket. Some of the resources featured on that page are as follows:

Life Jacket Affordability:
Learn more about life jackets and get a coupon (PDF) good for 25% off the regular price of any life jacket in stock at Big 5 Sporting Goods stores in Washington and northern Idaho. The coupon is valid through September 30, 2015.

Life Jacket Loaner Programs: 

These provide opportunities for families and friends to borrow life jackets at boating ramps, bathing beaches and other locations. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Boating Program, the Department of Health, Safe Kids and Seattle Children's partner to provide a list of life jacket loaner programs, with the goal of preventing drownings in Washington state. Wearing a life jacket while swimming in lakes, rivers, oceans, and while boating is important for your safety and the safety of your children, family, and friends.

• Life Jacket Loaner Program Stations in Washington State (PDF)
• Google map of station locations 

Beyond life jackets, the Seattle Children's hospital notes an important resource for families with unique needs. 

Everyone Swims:

"Everyone Swims" is a partnership to increase access to swimming and water recreation among culturally diverse and low-income families in Seattle and King County, Washington. Over 20 different pools, water recreation organizations and community health clinics are working on developing policy and system changes related to swimming scholarships; swim ability screening; referral to swimming and water recreation programs; and special swim programs for children and families with unique needs. Learn more about this project and how you can improve access to swimming and water recreation safety.

For more information about water safety, read a recent article on drowning where Dr. Linda Quan of the Seattle Children's Hospital is referenced.

Water safety tips for this post are courtesy of the Washington State Department of Health, the Washington State Department of Ecology, the Seattle Children's Hospital and Dr Yamini Durani, MD.

DEL enhances efforts to help ensure safety in child care

The Department of Early Learning and partners have enhanced our efforts to help ensure registered sex offenders are not living in homes where child care is offered.

The effort comes as the result of a State Auditor's Office performance audit that found 17 instances over 10 years of registered sex offenders living in homes where child care is offered. Two of those homes were licensed family homes. The other 15 were license-exempt child care providers who receive state subsidies to care for children.

As DEL staff testified today at a Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee session on the report, child care providers are good people doing hard work. However, as is highlighted in the audit, very occasionally a provider does not divulge information about a sex offender living on premises. The auditor gave us a new approach for making sure that children in child care are safe.

As a result of this audit, we:

• Will be meeting with the Department of Social and Health Services on a quarterly basis to match up sex offenders’ registered addresses against a list of licensed family home child care providers’ and license-exempt providers’ addresses. If we make a match, we will take quick action on the provider’s license or, for exempt providers, on their ability to be paid state child care subsidies.
• Revoked the license of one of the two licensed family home child care providers identified in the audit. The other provider was no longer licensed, but we have noted the auditor’s finding in that individual's file should that person ever seek a child care license again.
• Are clarifying our rules around background checks for license-exempt child care providers. Our rules are clear that when the provider offers care in the child’s home, the provider must have a background check, and when the child goes to the provider’s home, everyone living there age 16 or older must have a background check. What our rules did not address was the rare instance where a license-exempt child care provider lives in the same home where he or she is providing care to a child. We will clarify that in that instance, only the provider must have a background check.

Watch the JLARC hearing here:

Family home child care rules are a boost for Washington families and child care professionals

More than 170,000 Washington children from newborn through age 12 spend time in licensed child care, about 45,000 of them in family home child care settings. Many of these children spend the majority of their waking hours in care. They deserve care that is not just safe and healthy, but also gets them ready to succeed in school.

On March 31, updated family home child care licensing rules will go into effect for our state’s 5,000 family home child care providers. The updated rules support healthy, safe, nurturing care by:

• Requiring family home providers to have a high school diploma or GED, a child development associate credential or 45 credits of child development. Existing providers have until March 31, 2017, to attain this education.
• Limiting screen time, including video games and movies, to two hours per day.
• Increasing playground safety to reduce injuries caused by falling from climbing equipment and swings.
• Reflecting new federal standards around crib safety.
• Requiring a higher level of communication between providers and parents around child development and child care philosophy.
• Enhancing background checks for those who work or live in the home.

A recent Washington Post article about a baby’s death in a Virginia family home child care illustrates why family home child care rules are so important. Earlier this month, Dateline NBC aired an investigation about background checks for child care providers across the nation. At least 11 states, including Washington, have comprehensive background screening systems—39 states do not. The investigation went on to illustrate case after case of people with criminal backgrounds caring for children and the devastating consequences that have happened in some cases.

These reports illustrate the contrast between Washington’s rules and what other states require – or not. Some states require no criminal background checks, training (including CPR) or even basic inspections. In 2012, the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) ranked Washington ranked second in the nation for strong, thorough family home child care licensing policies. Sixteen states scored zero points out of 150 because they do not regulate family home child care or do not inspect before licensing providers. Washington’s rules are just the basis of what children and families deserve in child care.

Washington started regulation family home child care rules in the 1960s after a fire in a family home child care killed three children. Since the 1960s, we have made great strides to ensure children’s safety in family home child care and child care center settings. In recent years, parents and child development professionals have recognized the need for child care professionals, with whom young children who attend spend the majority of their waking hours, to help prepare children for success in school and life. Our state is one of many around the nation making a push toward increased quality in child care as a key school readiness strategy. The bulk of Washington’s recent $60 million Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant will support child care providers in boosting the quality of their programs through coaching, incentives and professional development. These updated rules help provide the foundation.

Family home child care providers are an integral part of the local economy, offering care for families while parents work, look for work or go to school. The revised family home child care rules are meant to support providers as small business owners. While there is—understandably—anxiety among some providers about meeting these updated rules, DEL is committed to helping them succeed. Families demand and deserve high-quality care, and we must help ensure communities can meet that demand.

The Department of Early Learning wants child care providers to succeed. Their success equals children’s success. And that is good for everyone.

Frequently asked questions about family home child care licensing rules available

The updated family home child care licensing rules take effect March 31, 2012. The Department of Early Learning (DEL) has been gathering questions from licensed providers and put them into a new "frequently asked questions" document that is on our website.

The family home rules are the result of an extensive, four-year negotiated rulemaking process between DEL, the SEIU 925 and others. The negotiated rulemaking team reviewed the existing family home rules, reviewed national research around child care safety and health, and made recommendations to DEL.

The rules do several things, including increasing education and training standards for providers and staff; enhancing standards around playground safety, food service, cribs, emergency preparedness, nurture and guidance, and screen time; and requiring a higher level of communication with parents around child development.

Learn more about the rules and watch the video of a December 2011 training webinar online.

Do you have questions about the updated rules? Email them to rules@del.wa.gov.

New family home child care rules will improve safety, outcomes for children

On November 14, DEL filed revised rules for family home child care providers. The revisions focus on health, safety and positive outcomes for children.

What are rules for family home child care providers?
DEL is responsible for providing rules for all licensed child care providers to follow, which are found in Washington Administrative Code (WAC). Child care centers and family home child care providers are subject to different rules. The family home child care rules have not changed significantly since 2004; the changes we filed yesterday are the first major update to the rules since licensing oversight became DEL's responsibility. The new rules will take effect in March 2012.

What does this mean for parents and children?

• Providers are required to communicate more information about the their child care philosophy and about each child's development.
• Enhanced safety standards for playgrounds, food service, cribs, emergency preparedness, screen time, and nurture and guidance.

What does this mean for family home child care providers?

• A streamlined background check process, through nonexpiring licenses and portable background checks.
• All children ages 13 to 16 who live in the home are subject to noncriminal background checks, as are volunteers or assistants ages 14 to 16 who work in the family child care home.
• Providers and their staff will be required to meet increased education and training standards. The new rules require, at a minimum, a high school education or equivalent. Current licensed providers have until March 31, 2017 to meet the minimum education requirement.
• DEL licensors will work with providers in the coming months to make sure they understand the new rules.

How did DEL decide on the rule changes?
DEL formed a group called the negotiated rule-making team that was tasked with developing the rule changes. The team was made up DEL staff, family home child care providers, the family home providers union, and other early learning professionals. Starting in 2007, the team collaboarated with providers, legislators, parents and early learning professionals to develop research-based draft rules. DEL presented the draft rules at eight public meetings around the state on evenings and weekends in Spring 2011. As required by state law, DEL also shared the draft rules with Service Employees International Union 925, the union that represents family home child care providers.

Read the final rules.

Watch DEL Director Bette Hyde discuss new rules: goo.gl/7OayM

More information about the rules is available on our website: www.del.wa.gov/laws/development/negotiated.aspx