[Vision2020] End of Legislative Session Summary from Rep. Trail

Sun Apr 6 19:20:27 PDT 2008

Paul and Angie,

  Like 99% of sexual predators won't show up on a background  check. Those that would are most likely already monitored or could be found in a few seconds checking the sex offender register. You are better off pooling that money used on background checks to educate everyone of how to spot someone and look for signs of potential abuse. I believe just about everyone that is left alone with a child or vulnerable adult is background checked. 

  I am not against regulations, I just don't want to open the flood gates of regulation on child care making it highly regulated and thus no longer affordable for parents. There is needs to a strong and overwhelming argument for each new regulation that the government imposes that also makes child care less affordable. Every new regulation mean some more parents cannot afford it. 

  Some care centers do pay for the background checks, but ultimately, it is a cost that comes out their wages or increases the costs of child care. 

  Angie,

  There is always room to improve safety in child rearing. I just don't think this ranks at the top of the list. UI is one of the MOST expensive centers there is. Not every parent can afford to pay for an army of inspectors and regulators to make sure their facility is following 1000s of government regulations. Look at what that has been done to nursing homes and their costs. Did you know that a nursing home has more regulations than any facility in the state with the exception of a nuclear powerplant? At it now costs $2000-8000 a month to care for one little old lady depending on her need level. Much of that money doesn't go to direct care, but to inspectors, regulators, specialties, auditors, lawyer fees, insurance fees, and money to pay the government for each infraction. I would rather put money into making childcare more affordable to those that need it, than to put it into more government regulations and their enforcement. Many of the child care providers make
 surprisingly little money, like $7 an hour. I would think such an important job would be better paying. I also think better training would go a longer ways to improve day care and safety, and be something that the care providers can take with them elsewhere. 

  Best Regards,

  Donovan

Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com> wrote:
  Why are the people who are applying for jobs paying for the background 
check? It's in the day care's best interest to do these checks, they 
should pay for them.

I'm of the opinion that this is an area where special cautions should be 
taken, as the risk of possible problems is large. My logic goes like 
this: there are people who are drawn to young children, sexually, 
against their better judgment and in a way that they often can't 
control. Much of the time, these people have already had a lapse of 
propriety and have been convicted of a crime as a result. It seems 
downright irresponsible not to perform a check for those situations when 
hiring day care workers.

I'm not advocating that these people never be able to work again, but 
this seems like the responsible thing to do.

What am I missing?

Paul

Donovan Arnold wrote:
> I am sure there are differences between the work I do with the elderly 
> and disabled, and that of child care, but I imagine there are many 
> similarities.
> 
> My first complaint about background checks is that they really aren't 
> background checks. They just check to make sure someone doesn't have 
> a conviction as a sex offender, which is pretty easy to check without 
> paying the $45 fee.
> 
> My second complaint is that more often than not, it is a huge 
> financial burden for people making $7 an hour to pay $45 for every day 
> care center they apply for and having to wait one to two weeks for 
> approval before they can start working. When you make $7 an hour, it 
> is difficult to afford that burden, it was for me.
> 
> 3) This is a massive intrusion and expansion of government with with 
> no indication that it is needed. The assumption here, and I think a 
> false one, is that it will improve the safety and well being of the 
> children by having a series of regulations to tie the hands of the 
> child care providers. There are already a large of laws and 
> regulations on the books.
> 
> Having worked in the nursing home environment, I can tell how self 
> contradicting and harmful over regulation from the government can be. 
> I trust child care providers over the government lawyers and 
> regulators that probably have never seen the inside of a daycare, much 
> less worked in one. From personal experience with the Moscow Day Care 
> and UI's Daycare centers, I can tell you they are excellent places to 
> place your children if you can get in, and they didn't need government 
> over regulation to get that way.
> 
> No doubt, we may someday need to expand government's role in raising 
> children. But as long as parents are still doing a good job, we 
> shouldn't invite the government in to fix something that isn't yet 
> broken.
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Donovan
> 
>
>
> */Angie Doe /* wrote:
>
> > 9. Does Idaho need to tighten its day-care regulations?
> 
> I am a bit disappointed in the answer that has been provided to
> this question. It leads me to believe that people have a
> extremely limited idea of what actually occurs in daycare.
> 
> I absolutely believe that day care regulations need to be tightened. 
> More importantly, the current regulations need to be observed and
> enforced regularly.
> 
> c. The Department shall obtain a criminal history check on only
> those applicants, 
>
> owners, operators, employees or volunteers who have direct contact
> with the 
>
> children in care and on all other individuals twelve (12) years of
> age or older who 
>
> have unsupervised direct contact with children in care.
> 
> I have worked in Moscow daycare and only one has ever required a
> background check, the UI.
> 
> 08. all family day care homes
>
> caring for six (6) or fewer children are not required to have a
> basic day care license or 
>
> certification.
> So as long as you have 6 or less kids, you can do whatever you
> want with whoever you want. Does that seem like a good idea?
> 
> If you read our regulations you will see that the only things it
> discusses is health inspection, fire inspection, and background
> checks. My experience is that the fire and health inspections
> only take place at the beginning of a center opening and are not
> repeated on regular intervals. Also, they are not taking into
> consideration what CHILD DEVELOPMENT professionals consider safe. 
> Infants can be playing with Lego's and that is not the safety they
> are looking at. We already know background checks aren't happening.
> 
> There is a lot that can be done to ensure better environments in
> child-care centers. One thing would be to have somewhat frequent
> surprise inspections to see if the environment is safe and if
> there is appropriate staff that has records of their background
> checks. *But the first* * would be to put together a board of
> Child Care experts and listen to what they have to say!! *They
> have been talking a lot lately and no one is listening.
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