Thursday, September 15, 2016

New childcare licensing rules lead to closures

New state rules that went into effect on Sept. 1 for child care providers are leading some to close their doors, while others are working on adapting to the changes.

www.eagletimes.com    

16 comments :

  1. Thank god for Rachel Hunter what would the world of child care be without her.

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  2. I got snagged for a second on the phrase 'or go unregulated'. Meaning there are more of those now?

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  3. I'm sure that these new state rules didn't come completely out of the blue. I'm sure these organizations had plenty of advanced warning to comply with the new regulations. Plus, I think the one-year grace period is pretty generous.

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  4. Philip Caron9/17/16, 8:51 PM

    The rules pretty much did come out of the blue. They require experienced, capable child-care people, possibly with extensive course-work under their belt and state CDA certifications kept up to date, to now enter college (or return there), on their time, to obtain an associate or bachelor degree. It's not clear anything was broken to warrant this complicated, difficult, one-size-fits-all fix.

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  5. chuck gregory9/18/16, 8:48 AM

    When I moved to Vermont, I had to find child care for my 5-year-old. His previous setting was an urban, parent-controlled day care with excellent staff. Two weeks after I placed him at a home day care, he told me he didn't like it. It was run by a woman who had three other kids in a room with the TV on all the time, something that hadn't been featured in the initial visit. I changed day cares.

    These rules set a bar for people like her to clear before they hang out their shingle.

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    1. Philip Caron9/18/16, 7:33 PM

      Someone with a degree might still ignore children in their care. How does requiring 2 or 4-year college degrees fix that, or the situation you describe?

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    2. chuck gregory9/19/16, 8:24 AM

      It eliminates the person who will lay mattresses on her living room floor, smoke and watch TV all day with five or six kids of other parents who are working their second of three jobs, the sort of situation I used to encounter in my work.

      All of us grow up believing our childhood was more or less typical of everybody else's. When somebody proposes that day care providers have a certain minimum level of education, we tend to think of that being imposed on the babysitter who cared for us, rather than the caretakers of today's children.

      It requires a liberal stretch of the imagination to imagine children who didn't get as good a nurturing as we did. It also requires that we have a curiosity about the development of children and an inclination to ponder what is good for Vermont and America.

      Children who are not exposed to the possibility of developing their attention span (the anti-TV habit), indulging their curiosity, and safely experimenting in actions and consequences in the first five years of their life are usually left on the back burner for the rest of their life. Day care needs to be as good as or better than the parents expect.

      In Bolivia, peasants care for laborers' children consists of taking them along to the marketplace to sit in the stall like stuffed dolls as the peasant tries to sell her wares. Of course the children also grow up to be peasants, which is pretty much what we can expect if our children's day care is not held to higher standards.

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    3. There have to be rules for day care, but there also has to be a balance. Over regulation and the bureaucracy it supports and creates have made VT one of the unfriendliest States for business. Affordable day care is hard to find. The new rules force more costs on the providers so likely costs will rise at the centers that stay open. Meanwhile taxes keep going up to pay for a lot of State workers who come up with these kind of rules, and then track and administer them. These kinds of overbuilt bureaucracies affect almost every facet of our businesses and our personal lives. Obviously oversight and regulation is necessary, just saying there needs to be a better balance.

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    4. If businesses were more "employee friendly" there would be little need for "affordable child care" since they would be cared for by a parent, and not an overworked, underpaid staff or by some lazy slob who sticks them in front of a TV. My family was never rich, but my dad made enough to allow my mom to stay home and raise us. It is really insane that we are even having conversations about who will raise our kids. Think about it.

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    5. @ 7:09, What you have witness is the exodus of technology sector jobs in Vermont due to over regulation, taxes and inability to attract young professionals. These jobs are likely gone for good. The future is packing rutabagas, farmer's markets, unskilled assembly lines and loading ski lifts. You just need to lower your standard of living. Or, you could vote out your state representatives and senators this fall that created this plight. But I bet you really don't care enough.

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    6. Hey 1:40, I upped my standard of living, UP YOURS! It was corporate greed and supply side economics that destroyed this town, along with the country. The reason my father made enough money to allow my mom to raise me? THE UNION! You are the one who votes for the problem!

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  6. I have to agree with Chuck on this one (gasp!) After all, a degree is required to teach children; caring for them is a much greater responsibility. Although a degree, or lack of one, would not necessarily make a difference, I would feel a whole lot better knowing the staff caring for my child have an education.

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  7. I have to disagree with Chuck, and the horse he is riding. There was already sufficient regulation, just inadequate enforcement. The situation he describes is obviously both substandard and illegal. Adding the college education requirement to existing regulations is grotesque, even for Vermont.

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  8. chuck gregory9/20/16, 1:57 PM

    So, who wants to raise taxes to have better enforcement, and who wants to have the providers ensure their own competence by paying out of their own pocket for an education? You can't have it neither way...

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  9. Philip Caron9/21/16, 8:24 PM

    Education and enforcement are not on the same page. There'll be just as much to enforce with people holding degrees.

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    Replies
    1. chuck gregory9/22/16, 7:42 PM

      Actually, no, there won't.

      Delete


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