Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 24, 1994 TAG: 9401240069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Auditors with the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general's office say some preschool children may also be spending their days with child-care workers who have criminal backgrounds.
The findings were based on inspections of 149 licensed day-care, foster care and Head Start programs in Nevada, Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Delaware and Virginia. Combined, those child-care providers were serving more than 6,600 children.
The auditors also looked at 106 Native American Head Start programs in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
The purpose of the reviews, which continue in Missouri, is to determine whether child-care providers that receive federal money comply with federal, state and local health and safety standards, and to assess state oversight of day-care facilities.
An official of the inspector general's office says the agency is not ready to draw conclusions about the quality of child-care nationwide, but Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Ron Wyden see a problem.
"The pattern of health and safety violations across states is disturbing," says Dodd, D-Conn. and the chairman of a Senate subcommittee on children and families. "Pinched budgets have forced many states to cut back on staff for monitoring programs."
Dodd and Wyden, D-Ore., and the chairman of the House Small Business subcommittee on regulation, are investigating the quality of child care.
"I am convinced that significant numbers of kids under the age of 5 may be in day-care facilities that are unsanitary, unsafe and possibly dangerous," Wyden said.
Wyden also is convinced that the administration's plans to reform the welfare system and require more single mothers to work "cannot succeed unless adequate and safe day care is available."
An official of the inspector general's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the majority of child-care providers surveyed had health or safety hazards.
Color photographs in the auditors' December 1993 report on child care in South Carolina document the problem: money bags and a money box stored in a freezer with food; a dirty kitchen floor with dead cockroaches; an uncovered trash can with putrid materials in a kitchen; cans and garbage strewn across a playground; no toilet paper in a bathroom; toxic chemicals and cleaning supplies, hammer and nails within reach of children.
Although the federal government subsidizes day care for low-income families, it relies on the states to ensure that local centers meet health and safety standards.
Many states, however, are having trouble protecting children from unsafe and unsanitary conditions, according to a 1992 General Accounting Office study that blamed budget cutbacks for reductions in oversight.
There are also no national standards for day-care centers, and, according to Wyden, only 19 states require criminal background checks of day-care providers.
by CNB