Purdue News
Purdue News
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December 2000 We need to raise our childcare expectationsDennis A. SavaianoSchool never let out last summer for parents, educators and childcare professionals studying ways to raise the failing grade of childcare in Indiana. So it seemed from the vantage point of the Center for Families at Purdue University Fortunately, amid an onslaught of bad news, one promising model for improving this state's quality of childcare may be as simple – and as close – as going back to school. First, the childcare report card. By September, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration confirmed that 14 Indiana children since May 1999 had died in childcare environments. Within days of the last tragedy – the death of a 3-month-old boy in Indianapolis – the Indiana Institute of Disability and Community at Indiana University released findings of a study declaring that Indiana's children may be at "significant risk" for injury and illness – even while enrolled in regulated childcare settings. Response to this report takes on a sense of urgency considering that the majority of Indiana's childcare environments are unregulated. Our children deserve better. If any other national resource were so threatened, the nation would mobilize to protect it. And so we must. There are models of successful childcare alternatives – some already working in Indiana – that shine in contrast to the documented dangers and mediocrity spelled out in last summer's journalistic jeremiads, untimely obituaries and alarming studies. Eminent child development expert Edward Zigler of Yale proposes using local public school facilities and expertise to meet childcare needs. Zigler's "School of the 21st Century" model argues that schools are generally well-maintained, taxpayer-supported facilities, accessible to parents and the public. The potential of Zigler's model for Indiana's childcare situation was described in the 1999 "Evaluation of the Indiana Child Care Financing Initiative," prepared by Douglas Powell, head of Purdue University's Department of Child Development and Family Studies. This evaluation was issued by the Center for Families at Purdue University, which helps families through research, education and outreach services. Using public schools for childcare, the report noted, is emerging as a national trend that deserves a closer look. In fact, there is evidence of success in our own backyard. Necessity begat innovation in Newton County, a rural county of 14,000 in need of quality childcare in Northwest Indiana. In rural Indiana, and elsewhere in the heartland, a post-agricultural manufacturing economy is rapidly emerging. Suburbia sprawls into the countryside, and strip malls sprout on farmland. Employment opportunities and social supports long identified with our pastoral past have all but vanished. Two-income couples, in family units fortunate enough to remain intact, are now the norm. Many former at-home childcare providers now commute for greater economic opportunity from what were once self-contained communities. Satisfactory childcare options, challenging to find or afford anywhere, are even more scarce in rural areas. Enter the school corporation. Using start-up funds provided by private sector contributions to the innovative Indiana Child Care Financing Initiative, public and private sectors of the community established three new childcare programs in Newton County public schools. Prior to this initiative, there were two licensed childcare homes and no licensed childcare centers in Newton County. The new program included 125 new spaces, a full-day kindergarten, an after-school program and an inclusive preschool program for children on Head Start waiting lists. There also were programs for children with disabilities. This partnership between the Newton County School Corp. and a local advisory committee created a "community learning center" offering both childcare and adult education opportunities. The financing initiative, an outgrowth of the first Indiana Symposium on Child Care Financing, began in 1995 with five statewide goals: build public and corporate awareness of childcare needs; create public-private partnerships to meet those needs; expand licensed childcare capacity; increase certified providers; and reduce the high turnover rates of professional providers. There are other models that can and will enhance childcare in Indiana. Partnerships between employers and employees are growing in frequency across the state. Stable childcare serves the best interests of everyone. For employers and parents alike, safe, affordable, nurturing childcare better ensures higher employee attendance, morale, productivity and job retention. By raising our childcare standards and expectations to these levels, we begin to raise our children's success in school, self-esteem and social competence. Safety for our children in childcare is an absolute necessity. It will take vision, determination, social responsibility and action to meet our childcare needs. It is time to apply the lessons we have learned. Only then can we close the book on Indiana's failing grade in childcare. Dennis A. Savaiano is dean of the School of Consumer and Family Sciences, home for the Center for Families at Purdue University.
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