Poor child care threatens next generation

Experts Fear Infants' Needs Overlooked In Welfare Reform

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - With hundreds of thousands of additional infants and toddlers likely to need child care as their parents leave welfare and go to work, policymakers across the nation are focused on how to create enough day care slots.

What may be overlooked in their rush to find space, however, is quality. The failure to adequately train and regulate caregivers, advocates fear, may damage a generation of youngsters.

At stake is the "emotional, social, intellectual and physical well-being of millions of infants," says Dr. J. Ronald Lally, a prominent expert on early childhood development and education. Lally is director of the Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers at WestEd, a not-for-profit education research, development and service organization.

Lally is among a growing number of child development researchers, neuroscientists, educators and child advocates across the country who seek to focus policymakers' attention on the importance of children's early years. National media, including prime time television, also have identified early childhood development as a prime national concern.

Lally says the experiences of a child from birth to 3 years -- the period when more and more children are being placed in child care-- have a profound effect, for better or worse, on who that child will become.

Research has shown, for example, that infants who have rich, stimulating experiences develop richer "mapping" of social and intellectual brain cell connections than those who are deprived of a stimulating environment. Similarly, infants who have responsive, nurturing caregivers grow up to be trusting, responsive adults, while infants whose caregivers are not responsive are more likely to develop aggressive behavior, poor peer relationships and academic difficulties.

The immediate challenge for policymakers, then, is how to ensure quality child care in the face of the huge increase in demand expected to accompany welfare reform. Of special concern to Lally and other child advocates are proposals that call for reducing or even eliminating training requirements and other regulations for professional caregivers.

Lally challenges the notion that untrained, unsupervised caregivers can adequately care for the next generation. "To leave any children, especially those who may already be at risk, in the hands of untrained caregivers is shortsighted," says Lally. "The effects of poor quality child care need to be considered as an integral part of welfare reform planning. To further ignore the research about what children need in order to thrive would be a huge mistake."

In fact, says Lally, policymakers should be considering not only the solid body of research that exists about the extent to which inadequate care can damage children, but also recent research on the poor quality of America's existing child care system.

Recent findings from two studies -- one of family-based child care and the other of center-based child care -- show that the quality of care experienced by most of the 5 million infants and toddlers in child care in the U.S. is poor.

In a 1994 study of 226 family child care settings, fewer than 10 percent were rated as "adequate," while 35 percent were considered "growth-harming." A 1995 study revealed the quality of care providedby for-profit and non-profit child care centers to be just as poor.

A full 92 percent failed to meet children's basic needs for health, safety, warm relationships and learning, and 40 percent were rated unsafe or harmful to children's development.

Training, regulation and dedication of caregivers to their profession were strongly correlated with quality child care in the 1994 study. Yet, few providers in family day care settings had received, or sought, training. Moreover, 81 percent of settings in this study were illegal, that is, without regulation.

"Inadequate, damaging care can be avoided," says Lally. "We already know what good child care looks like. What's missing is the commitment to providing it."

In fact, three nationally recognized early childhood education organizations -- the Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers, Head Start, and Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families -- have each issued recommendations based on research on infant care quality. All three call for training based on child development knowledge and proven practice; the regulation of infant care, particularly attention to group size; and close attention to the selection of infant/toddler caregivers.

Lally notes, "Regulations can help assure that infants and toddlers receive child care that meets the fundamental needs of children, including close, caring relationships; health and safety; communication with a child's family; and responsive caregivers." Lally acknowledges that regulation means added expense. However, he points out, "The benefits of quality child care far outweigh its costs."

To help inform policymakers, the Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers has produced a video, "In Our Hands," that demonstrates the poor quality of out-of-home care already present in the U.S. andshows what good child care looks like. An accompanying summary details recent major research findings on the quality of infant care in the U.S. and explains recommendations made in the video on how to prevent infants from being harmed.

With funding from The Ford Foundation, the video is being disseminated throughout the nation to governors, legislators and others involved with welfare reform. Additionally, a nationwide network of infant and toddler advocates are developing strategies for showing the video to key state legislative committees and policymakers who are developing child care policy.

Other infant/toddler advocates joining the Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers in their efforts to disseminate research findings to policymakers include the California Department of Education, Families & Work Institute, the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and the National Child Care Bureau and Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families.