Sunday, 27 March 2016

Selecting a Childcare Center That Will Provide a Safe and Healthy Environment For Children


                                    Certificate 3 in childcare

Choosing a child care center is one of the most important decisions that a working parent will make to help ensure the health, safety, and overall well being of their child while they must be away from them. Thousands of children are treated in emergency rooms for injuries sustained at child care centers or childcare homes each year in addition to those instances of abuse or neglect. Sadly, some of those children will lose their lives.

There are precautions that can be taken t help ensure that a child will be properly cared for while a parent is at work. The first question a parent should ask is whether the childcare center or childcare home has an open door policy. If the answer is no, that provider should not be selected. Next, a parent should ask the potential provider whether they have been licensed by the state's childcare licensing department to operate a childcare center or home and whether the certification is current( certificate 3 in childcare).

Check to see that staff has been trained on blood borne pathogens. With diseases like AIDS, Hepatitis B, etc., and anti-biotic resistant strains of various infections, make sure childcare staff always wear plastic gloves when changing diapers and administering first aid, and that gloves and diapers are disposed of in a separate trash container labeled bodily fluids'. All trash cans should have plastic bags inside and locking lids. All trash should be taken out at the end of every day.

Parents should not be afraid to ask to see the license and most recent inspection date. Find out how many infants, toddlers, and older children they are licensed for and how many children are currently being cared for. Make sure staff has had a background check by the local police department and the state investigative agency. Health and Human Service agencies and local police departments will usually submit a request for a background check on a parent's behalf for a nominal fee.Know more about: certificate 3 in childcare .

Parents should also find out if childcare staff has been trained on child abuse and neglect and the state reporting requirements for suspected child abuse. With an increasing number of incidents of domestic violence and kidnapping by non-custodial parents and other caregivers, parents should find out if doors are kept locked during the hours the center is open for operation and how the childcare provider ascertains that only approved persons are picking up a child and if they have a form that can be signed designating who can and cannot pick a child up?

Other training staff should have had is on positive discipline, nutrition, child development, how to prepare and store food, food allergies and food borne illnesses and the proper storage and handling of food, etc. Staff should be re-certification annually on administering infant CPR, other CPR, choking, and the care of infants, toddlers and pre-school age children by the local American Red Cross, hospital, or other person or agency that have staff certified to be trainers. Make sure there is enough staff to care for the number of children in the center or private childcare home.

Take a walk through the childcare center or childcare home, including outdoor play areas, and the kitchen where food is prepared. Make sure cleaning supplies and other hazardous materials are stored in containers with tight fitting lids and that spray bottles are turned off and everything placed in a locked cabinet well out the reach of children, and that surfaces are clean. Many accidents in childcare centers occur when children accidentally come into contact with toxic materials because someone forgot to properly store cleaning supplies or failed to return them to a locked cabinet.

To ensure their child's safety parents should make sure that tables are wiped down with warm soapy water after meals and that other cleaning materials that may be more toxic are only used to wipe down tables, cupboards, and bathrooms after the child care center or home is closed for the day and is followed up with a secondary wipe down with just hot water. Also look around and make sure electrical outlets that have safety covers in place to keep children from sticking things into the sockets and getting shocked.
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See-http://childcareinstitute.com.au