A safe environment and use of strong safety practices make the foundation of a high-quality daycare. There is no doubt about it: child care programs cannot be high-quality if they are unsafe. This is true even of programs that may be strong in other areas, like emotional support and academics.
How can you tell if your child’s daycare is safe? It’s not always clear what makes the difference between a very safe child care and just a so-so child care. Some things that make a child care unsafe aren’t obvious to a parent touring a child care program.
We’re here to help you learn how to tell when a daycare goes above and beyond to make sure the kids in their care are safe. Below we list some signs that show your child care puts a high priority on safety. Plus, we’ll identify a few red flags that should be immediate cause for concern about daycare safety.
Safe daycares follow the standards of the state child care licensing department.
The most important indicator that your child’s daycare provider takes safety seriously is that they are a licensed by your state. Licensing regulations vary from state to state. Some states have very strict licensing requirements, others are more lenient. In most states, the licensing requirements are the most basic requirements that child care programs should meet to be considered safe.
Ideally, most child care providers will go beyond the basic safety requirements required by licensing. Providers who are concerned about safety will usually institute others improvements to their programs. These improvements may include things like high quality playground equipment, lower teacher to child ratios, and strong food preparation practices.
Most states provide information about how daycare programs are doing in meeting their requirements on their public website. Using the information from your state’s child care licensing website is the first step you should take to ensure that your child’s child care is safe.
Safe daycares don’t have any major licensing violations.
When you’re checking your state’s licensing website you’ll also be able to view programs’ licensing violations. Licensing violations are evidence that the program has not met one or more of the standards set out by the state. Each violation will be categorized and described in detail, along with a date that the violation was committed. Programs with licensing violations are required to work to address the violations to keep their licensed status.
Having one or a few violations does not necessarily mean that a daycare program is low quality. Even high quality programs can have violations. It is important to read the violations to understand their seriousness. It is also important to ask the program questions about what they are doing to address the violations. Programs that take safety seriously will be able to show the steps they have implemented to address any violations.
Safe daycares have a written safety plan.
A safe child care program is one where you can see safety in practice and hear from the programs’ leaders how they ensure child safety. Safe daycares and preschools will have plans in place to keep your children safe in case of an emergency. Safety plans will not only cover your child’s physical safety but will also account for their emotional safety as well. When discussing safety with the program’s director or teachers, look for signs that they have plans in place that cover:
Building security
On-going teacher and staff background checks
Bullying
Food allergies
Outdoor or offsite first aid preparedness
When discussing safety plans with a director or teacher, ask how they train staff on the safety plans. A high-quality child care will ensure that new staff receive extensive safety training and that current staff receive frequent refresher trainings.
Safe daycares don’t avoid conversations about parents’ concerns for safety.
A safe daycare is one that does not avoid the hard conversations that parents will inevitably have to ensure their children’s well-being. Safe child care programs that have thought through what they need to do in a variety of different situations to make sure children of all ages are well cared for. They should be able to explain, and ideally also provide written summaries, of how they approach various safety challenges.
Let’s think of a very common daycare safety example: the classroom biter. Now, it is very common for children who are around toddler age to bite. And a good daycare will know that and will have a plan in place if a child starts to regularly bite other children in their classroom. Their intervention for this common issue should be one that positively stops the biting (no yelling at the biter!) and keeps the bitten child free from harm as well. Cause for concern might be warranted if they show they don’t have a plan for how to address the issue. If that is the case, then a conversation with the program’s director may be needed.
Daycares can’t develop plans for every possible safety issue. But they should have plans for the common ones. And if they don’t have an existing plan for a new issue, they should be eager to work with parents to develop one. A safe daycare program is one that is open to suggestions and willing to take action to ensure your child’s well-being.
A safe daycare practices safety routines with children.
Safe daycares are programs that will work with your children to help them learn what it means to be safe. Part of this learning may include practicing routines that promote safety. Safety routines might be simply teaching children to wash hands before eating. Older children may be taught how to listen and follow rules around streets and cars when the children are out for a walk.
You can help your children with their daycare safety routines by using the same rules at home, when it makes sense. Does your child’s daycare have a set of routines around food preparation? Using the same routine at home simplifies what rules they should follow and reinforces the importance of what they are learning when they are away from home.