child care - Digital Library Collections

THE STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN YEARBOOK...... 1..9..9.....8 ..:J
unsafe and unsanitary conditions in a significant
number. Moreover, relatively few child care centers
meet the higher standards required for accreditation.
In 1997, for example, only 6 percent
of all child care centers were accredited by the
National Association for the Education of Young
Children.
A 1996 report by the Carnegie Corporation,
Years of Promise: A Comprehensive Strategy for
America's Children, states that child care and early
education services "have so long been neglected
that they now constitute some ofthe worst services
for children in Western society." The report observes
that the care most children receive not only
can "threaten their immediate health and safety,
but also can compromise their long-term development."
Kindergarten teachers estimate that one in
three children enters the classroom unprepared to
meet the challenges of school.
Families with children under 3 continue to
face especially daunting obstacles to fmding safe
and supportive child care. Both the supply and the
quality have 'been found wanting. A 1995 Urban
Institute study of child care needs found shortages
of infant care in the majority of the cities examined.
The Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes study
revealed that 40 percent of the rooms serving infants
and toddlers in child care centers provided
such poor care as to jeopardize children's heath,
safety, and development.
The need for before- and after-school care has
barely been addressed. The u.s. Census Bureau
estimates that nearly 5 million children are left
unsupervised by an adult after school each week.
The consequences are grim; according to the U.S.
Department of Justice, juvenile crime peaks between
3 and 7 p.m. A study by KatWeen Dwyer and
others, published in the September 1989 issue of
Pediatrics, found that eighth-graders who were left
home alone after school reported greater use of
cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana than those in
adult-supervised settings, The lack of good afterschool
options is especially acute in low-income
neighborhoods. In 1993 only one-third of schools
in such neighborhoods offered before- and afterschool
programs.
Finally, many low-income working families
have little hope of receiving help to pay for child
care. In 1997 New Jersey, for example, reported
that as many as 15,000 children were on waiting
lists for child care subsidies, and Texas had a waiting
list of 37,000 families (see table 3.2). New York
Figure 3.1
Training Requirements for Teachers In Child Care Centers
Thirty-two states do
States that require no prior training, 1997
not require teachers
in child care centers
to have completed
any training prior to
serving children.
Source: Center for Career Development in Early Care and Education.
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