Training, Interaction Focus of Child Day Care Plan
Gongwer
News Service, January 31, 2005
Staff at Michigan's 19,000 day care homes and centers would be required
for the first time to receive child care training as part of a major
rewrite of the state's regulations governing day care.
The new regulations, initiated by the Family Independence Agency, also
would put in place the first limits on the amount of television that can
be watched by children receiving day care at a home-based setting,
restricting viewing time to two hours each day. Those providing day care
at their homes also would be prohibited from watching programs featuring
any adult or violent content, including soap operas.
The proposed changes are the product of 18 months of study by a committee
of child care providers and advocates in cooperation with the Division of
Day Care Licensing, a branch of the FIA's Office of Children and Adult
Licensing. Child care advocates have complained for years that the state's
child care regulations are woefully inadequate, particularly with the lack
of any training requirements for day care staff. Michigan had been ranked
in a tie for 49th among the 50 states in the adequacy of its child care
regulations, according to the national Children's Defense Fund.
Under the proposal, which still faces public hearings before it can be
implemented, day care center staff would be required to receive eight
hours of training in the first year after the rule becomes effective, 12
hours in the second year and 16 years in each following year. Staff could
either take outside classes for their training or their center's director
could hire an instructor to conduct the training in-house.
Program directors, now required to receive 12 semester hours of training,
would instead be mandated to obtain 18 semester hours under the changes.
The training requirements are considered the core of the new regulations.
"The children in the care of trained staff tend to exhibit more
cooperative behavior, higher language skills and general knowledge and
greater task persistence," said Jim Sinnamon, director of the Division of
Day Care Licensing.
The proposal also would make some minor changes in child-to-staff ratios
by requiring one staffer for every six children between 2- to 3-years-old.
Currently, the ratio is one staffer for every eight children between those
ages. And a new limit of 12 children between 0-3 would be put in place on
the number of children allowed within a room or given area.
Keith Myers, executive director of the Michigan Association for the
Education of Young Children, said the new training requirements would be a
major upgrade for the state, which now has no requirements for staff at
day care centers. Mr. Myers, whose group participated in the rewriting of
the regulations, said the changes are "long overdue."
"The research tells us that the qualifications of the staff, the training
of the staff is a key indicator for the quality of a program," he said.
Besides training, the rules would require caregivers to have frequent
positive interaction and eye contact with infants and toddlers "so that
they're not just being warehoused," Mr. Sinnamon said.
The practice of stacking cribs on top of each other to save space would be
banned. Mr. Sinnamon likened the technique to "cages" that limited air
flow and visual stimulation. And day care providers could no longer
shuttle children in large passenger vans that seat 11-15 people for safety
reasons.
Home-based day care facilities also would see new training requirements
with 10 hours annually required for providers and five hours for any
assistants they employ.
And there would be the new two-hour limit on the amount of television and
videos children could watch each day along with restrictions on the type
of television that could be viewed in the home. Some providers' program
during the day consists of simply showing "one video after another," Mr.
Sinnamon said.
"In family homes, it's probably more prevalent than you might think," he
said. "They're already watching TV at home. What we need are children to
be interacting with other children and adults. Not just watching TV."
But Tamara Aldrich, who operates a group day care operation out of her
Lansing home, questioned the enforceability of the television viewing
restriction. The 12 children at her home watch less than two hours of
videos each day - usually "Baby Einstein" videos, she said.
"I think it's kind of bizarre," she said. "I don't know how they're going
to monitor that."
But Ms. Aldrich praised the new restrictions on the type of television
that can be watched during hours of operations. Ms. Aldrich said it is
common sense not to have any age inappropriate programs on while children
are in the home, but she has heard of providers who watch soaps during the
day.
And she also lauded the new training requirements. "All the training we
can get is wonderful," she said.
Mr. Sinnamon said the television regulations would require a partnership
between state regulators, parents and providers to enforce.
When the former Engler administration sought to relax some regulations
governing child day care in 1999, it cited a need to make it easier for
more child care centers to open to handle the large numbers of children in
need of day care. More regulations would mean greater costs, resulting in
the closure of some centers, administration officials said then.
But Mr. Sinnamon said he expected the new regulations would have a
relatively limited impact on costs for day care providers, principally for
those needing to replace large vans for transportation purposes. "I don't
think the rules will force any centers to close," he said.
Eventually, the rules will go before the Legislature's Joint Committee on
Administrative Rules, which can slow, but not block, their implementation.
If the Legislature objects to the rules, they can pass a bill to override
them, but Governor Jennifer Granholm would have to sign it for the rules
to be nullified. That's unlikely considering it is her administration
proposing the regulatory changes.
Mr. Sinnamon said he hopes to have the rules implemented by the end of the
year.
