DAY CARE CENTERS How Safe Are They?

Certainly most day care centers are safe environments for our children. But some are not and it is usually not obvious to casual observers. The question is, how do you know which center is safe for your child?

Researchers are beginning to suspect that many child molesters seek employment at child centers using them as "private hunting groups" for their next victim.(1)

Another study indicating that offending owners of centers were involved in child abuse, suggests they actually may have started the school for the purpose of preying upon children.(2) Researchers report that in California alone two or three hundred day care centers are usually being investigated for child abuse.(3)

HOW TO SELECT A CHILD CARE CENTER

Here are a few suggestions on how to select a safe environment for your child:

• Choose a center where you can drop in any time without notice. Be sure to make occasional surprise visits. If day care staff is uncomfortable with this, find out why.
  
  
• Talk to other parents who have children at the center, both before and after enrolling your child, to make sure the children are not exhibiting any consistently unusual behavior.
  
  
• Know the other children in your child's class. During expected and unexpected visits to the center, notice the children who are missing. When you notice a child who is missing consistently, ask their parents about their absence. It may be a case of illness or it could be that abuse is occurring.
  
  
• Check teacher qualifications as well as the student/teacher ratio.
  
  
• Talk to your child frequently about activities at the center. Ask specific questions about the types of games they play. Be specific in a non-threatening manner.
  
  
• Notice how the children relate to staff. Do they show unusual fear or timidity? Do they seem too "free" with physical touching of each other or the instructors?
  
  
• Is it a licensed center?
  
  
• Ask the center and then verify with the police and local licensing center if there have ever been any complaints lodged against the center.

FOOTNOTES
1. John Crewdson, By Silence Betrayed (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988), p. 115.
2.Sexual Abuse of Kids in Day Care, Baltimore Journal, 3/22/88
3. Ibid., p.118

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