Researching your day care: a how-to guide
Choosing quality child care may be one of the most critical decisions a parent makes. A number of criteria factor in to the decision, including location, price and overall quality. But researching more details on the quality of care at facilities can present a challenge for even the most determined parent or guardian.
A parent looking to do a comprehensive evaluation of a child care agency's violation history and current health and safety standards will have to visit multiple government resource sites, and in some cases request additional documentation from government agencies, to get a complete picture of quality of care.
That comes, of course, in addition to parents' facility visits, the word-of-mouth feedback they may receive and their own gut feeling.
Here are some resources to help make the decision a little easier.
Nashville day cares earn top marks despite safety violations
Star rating
To find a child care center's star rating you must visit the Department of Human Services website, which lists all licensed child care providers in the state, providing information about ages served, operating hours, location and star rating. You can search by county and home or work address to find locations near you. www.tn.gov/accweb/
Many families use the state's star quality rating system as a litmus test for care. Tennessee implemented it in 2001 to evaluate state-licensed child care facilities and parents assess the quality of care delivered by agencies.
Providers participate in the rating system voluntarily, and their programs are evaluated in up to seven assessment areas. Each star indicates higher levels of quality. No stars means a facility meets licensing standards; three stars means it meets the state's highest standards.
Chat transcript: Day care investigation in Nashville
Assessing your day care: The star rating system
“Compliance history” — an agency’s record of breaking the rules — is only one of the factors DHS considers. In fact, the system skews more heavily toward evaluating the qualifications of a center's staff and leadership than its day-to-day operations. It also relies heavily on prescheduled program observation for three to four hours by a DHS worker.
Of the seven areas assessed by DHS for child care centers, Margaret Burchinal, a senior scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina, where she focuses on child care research, suggests paying the closest attention to two: program assessment and director qualifications.
"The director's qualifications make a huge difference," she says, "because they (are) the ones making decisions about the program."
A new star rating is assigned by DHS with each new licensing year. The agency considers compliance history from only the previous 12-month period. So a child care center that two years ago was cited for significant supervision, safety or transportation violations may in this year have a three-star rating. As a result, the star rating does not serve as the most comprehensive tool for parents interested in assessing an agency's violation history.
Information for parents about Tennessee's star quality program ratings: www.tennessee.gov/humanservices/article/child-care-report-card-star-quality-program
Violations report
In 2014, DHS, which oversees child care licensing in Tennessee, began posting day care violations online. The online violation reports date back to July 2013. A parent seeking information on compliance before that date must call the individual child care assessor, whose number is listed on the top of each compliance history form on the DHS website.
To find the violations, go to the DHS homepage (www.tennessee.gov/humanservices) and click on "Find Child Care" under the Families header. Then search by county.
You will see a Tennessee map and you can click on a specific county to pull up day cares by ZIP code. When you click on a particular ZIP code, a list of day care centers comes up, and on the far right is a column titled "Compliance History."
Click on the "Compliance History" link and you will see if the center has had any violations dating back through July 2013.
If there is a violation, DHS lists the date it happened, the date it was corrected and a brief description. For example, one violation at La Petite Academy in Goodlettsville read, "Observation: On September 10, 2015 a four year old child was left in the early preschool classroom by himself unsupervised. 1240-04-03-.06 Supervision."
Supervision is the type of violation. The observation is a short synopsis of what the program evaluator saw and noted.
Health inspections
The Metro Public Health Department inspects Nashville child care facilities to check for rodents, mold, unsafe equipment or infrastructure and sanitary conditions. Copies of inspections are not readily available. The reports, conducted annually or in response to a complaint, are not posted online.
Metro Public Health officials said anyone requesting that information should call 615-340-5630. A person answering that number gave out an email address of a supervisor who would respond to inquiries by emailing electronic copies of requested inspections.
Licensing
The primary purpose of licensing is the protection of children. Minimum requirements are designed to maintain adequate health, safety and supervision of children while in a group care setting.
License rules for child care agencies (child care centers, group and family child care homes) may be accessed at the secretary of state's website: http://share.tn.gov/sos/rules/1240/1240-04/1240-04-03.20090314.pdf.
Tennessee's child care agencies are inspected between four and six times a year, depending on the agency’s star rating. At least one unannounced visit is made each quarter. These visits are to ensure that providers continue to meet licensing requirements.
Agencies also are investigated in response to complaints.
To report suspected licensing violations or possible illegal child care operations, call the child care complaint hotline at 1-800-462-8261. You can also email your information to Human-Services.Webmaster@tn.gov.
Other resources
Parents Know, Kids Grow: This site provides resources and information about children's safety, well-being and learning. Covering such topics as finding the best child care, creating a safe-sleep environment and childhood development, the site offers the latest research-based articles, videos and additional resources. www.parentsknowkidsgrow.org. It also provides a checklist for parents to use when choosing a child care provider: www.parentsknowkidsgrow.org/choosingchildcare#checklistwhenvisitingandchoosingaprovider.
Child Care Resource and Referral Centers: The state offers free child care location and counseling services to provide parents information about the components of high-quality care and what to look for when choosing care. There are eight agencies across the state. Locally, Mid-Cumberland coordinator: Ellen McCollum, 931-648-3695, ext. 1010, or 866-446-6006; email emccollum@dsdc.org. Counties served: Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Stewart, Sumner, Williamson
For the entire list, visit www.tennessee.gov/assets/entities/humanservices/attachments/ccrr-listing.pdf.
A workbook on choosing child care: It includes information on the different types of child care options and suggested questions to ask in a prescreen telephone call and while touring a facility: www.tennessee.gov/assets/entities/humanservices/attachments/cc-workbook.pdf.