People on both sides of the issue make valid points, children can become hurt or abused in either circumstances, however I think that we have to also remember that licensed child care providers are required to report incidents such as accidents and incidents. Licence-exempt (legally running child care with no license), unlicensed (illegally operating child care) and parents do not.

Of course the data is going to show that a majority of the injuries whether they are major or minor happen in licensed child care, no one else is required to report these incidents. If a parent takes their child to the park and their child falls and breaks their arm, their child is taken to the hospital, casted and then sent on their way. If I go to that same park and the child breaks their arm, I have to inform the parent, inform licensing and make a report about the incident which is then logged and used for data and informational purposes. Licensing may possibly come for a surpeise inspection to ensure that I am supervising the children and not neglecting etc. None of which is required of someone else.

Personally I think it's unfair to use the statistical data that's out there about how many children get hurt in licensed child care (including centers) vs the data that is out there about incidents that happen in licence-exempt or unlicensed child care ... in home life for that matter ... simply because the comparison information is not correct. If everyone was required to report all incidents (including parents) then the information would be correct. The only data that we do have is what licensed child cares are required to provide and the really serious incidents of abuse, neglect or negligence in unlicensed, license-exempt and home life that gets reported because Child Protective Services or law enforcement has to step in. Just my 2 cents.

Reply