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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Asking About Race Ethnicity
tenderhearts 08:24 PM 07-18-2018
I was wondering if you are required to ask this on your enrollment forms? I had a client that just signed on with me bring back her paperwork and questioned why it needed to be known? she said she didn't want to get political but she wanted to teach her daughter both cultures. I said I didnt really know why they require us to ask but for me that all race is welcom I don't think I responded very well, considering I have never been asked that then started getting concerned I had made a mistake. Just curious if you have come across this?
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CalCare 10:08 PM 07-18-2018
Hm. Without looking, I do think it's asked on their vax paper. I believe I have filled those out because we are supposed to look at the vax records provided to us by the families and then fill it out and sign that we saw the doctor's official record. Where did you have the question asked? Like what form?
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Cat Herder 05:06 AM 07-19-2018
The states want statistics/percentages of each race receiving services (including private pay daycare) at any given time. Just like the census. Voting lines, school districts, etc are drawn by them. An example of a study: https://www.kidsdata.org/topic/22/fo...7,11,8,10,9,44

Almost all studies divide us up by race to meet their agenda. It is used for funding, mandated diversity hiring, preference in scholarships, housing, subsidies, etc. The data is used for almost every service out there. It is not intended to be personal.

What she wants to teach her child has nothing to do with data collection.
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tenderhearts 06:34 AM 07-19-2018
After thinking about it last night I'm not quite sure that the state needs it but it asks when you enroll in the USDA form so it's on my enrollment form since you need to ask for that. I'm not sure about the state though. I'm not really sure I quite understand her concern.
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Leigh 07:07 AM 07-19-2018
I can't answer for your state, but I can tell you that the food program tracks race because they want to be sure that we are not discriminating. If the population is 60% Native American and I never enroll a Native American child, they'll assume that I am refusing to enroll kids of that race.
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Cat Herder 07:12 AM 07-19-2018
Originally Posted by tenderhearts:
After thinking about it last night I'm not quite sure that the state needs it but it asks when you enroll in the USDA form so it's on my enrollment form since you need to ask for that. I'm not sure about the state though. I'm not really sure I quite understand her concern.
When you are inspected they report your enrollment data to the state.

Also they want to see that your curriculum addresses the diversity in your program.
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tenderhearts 08:23 AM 07-19-2018
Do you ask this then on your enrollment forms? I couldn't remember yesterday when she asked exactly why I put that question on my enrollment form, I thought at the time it was the state that was requiring it, but then like I said I remembered that it was the USDA, do you ask this question on your enrollment form? I have sent a question to the USDA asking if they require it but I'm pretty sure they do.
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tenderhearts 08:36 AM 07-19-2018
how would you explain it to someone who seems sensitive to the question?
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Cat Herder 08:44 AM 07-19-2018
Originally Posted by tenderhearts:
how would you explain it to someone who seems sensitive to the question?
I would ask them what it is about the question that bothers them. Then start from there.

This is something that will follow their child, and themself, to the grave and probably should have been covered by their own parents/teachers at some point or other in their lifetime. Living as a member of a larger society.

This illusion of uniqueness can become exhausting if you entertain it too much.
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tenderhearts 08:49 AM 07-19-2018
I'm not sure at this point I can ask that since when she asked yesterday I really didn't know what to say, I just said I didn't really know why I was required to ask because at the time I thought it was the state, and as I was answering her I was thinking that they don't get that information from me so why would they need it, but then later is when I remembered it was the USDA therefore I didn't answer her wrong I guess just wrong agency, I just didn't understand what she meant by not getting political, I just responded with I take all children regardless and then asked her if she had a problem with that.
I don't know if I should email her (which I already have to about something else) if I should just address it in the way of if I answered her question if I understood what she was asking??
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Cat Herder 09:07 AM 07-19-2018
I would let it drop as long as she turned in the required paperwork. You can check whatever box you want on your own paperwork.

Do you not have a bi/multi or other racial option? Is that possibly her issue? She does not know what box to check and has concerns of what label is politically correct for her multiracial child?

I can see being confused by that, myself.
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tenderhearts 09:15 AM 07-19-2018
It's exactly what is asked on the USDA form.
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Cat Herder 09:32 AM 07-19-2018
Originally Posted by tenderhearts:
It's exactly what is asked on the USDA form.
On my USDAFP child enrollment form it does not ask parents about race. We have a form providers must fill out, instead.

Child/Adult and Summer Food Programs
Racial/Ethnic Data Collection Form
(Please Print)
Facility Name: Date Data Collected:

Name and Title of Person completing form: Total Enrollment:


Instructions for completion:
1) In Section I, input the number of participants based on the two ethnic categories: a) of Hispanic or Latino origin; or b) not of Hispanic or Latino origin.
2) In Section II, input the number of participants by racial category based on the five categories listed.
3) The total number of participants by ethnic category (Section I, Item C) and the total number by racial category (Section II, Item F) must be equal.
4) Visual identification may be used to determine a participant’s racial and/or ethnic category. For collection purposes, a participant may be included in the group to which he or she appears to belong, identifies with, or is regarded as a member of the community. Program officials must use safeguards to prevent the data from being used for discriminatory purposes. Such safeguards include allowing access to this data only to authorized personnel.

Section I.
Ethnic Category Number of Participants
A) Hispanic or Latino (A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. The term “Spanish origin” can be used in addition to “Hispanic or Latino)
B) Not Hispanic or Latino
C) TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS BY ETHNIC CATEGORY
Section II.
Racial Category Number of Participants
A) White (A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East).
B) Black or African American (A person having origins in the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as “Haitian” can be used in addition to “Black or African American”).
C) Asian (A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands, for example Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan and Vietnam).
D) Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands).
E) American Indian/Alaskan Native (A person having origins in any of the original peoples on North America, and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition [includes Aleuts and Eskimo)

F) TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS BY RACIAL CATEGORY
I certify to the best of my knowledge and belief that the above information is collected in accordance with USDA guidelines and is accurate and complete.

_______________________________________ _________________
Signature Date



Some programs use this to their advantage for funding.
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Ariana 09:37 AM 07-19-2018
I am pretty sure she can check more than one box for race, maybe she is confused by that part?
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tenderhearts 09:51 AM 07-19-2018
Yours seems different than mine.
Here's mine.
Name
*
First Name

Middle Name
*
Last Name
Birth Date
*


Enrollment Date
*



Participates in CACFP


Child Details
*
Race (choose all that apply)
American Indian or Alaskan Native
Asian
Black or African American
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
White
*
Ethnicity

*Hispanic or Latino
*Not Hispanic or Latino

Special needs
Special diet
Child of a migrant worker

I just got a response from my sponsor and she said that it is required information, that I can ask, I can make an assumption, or I can print out the enrollment form for the parent to fill out, if they choose not to answer then when USDA enters it they put it into MM (?) and put not supplied.

I think it would be wrong if I made an assumption on a child, plus IF I did that, on the renewal they will see what I put and if I assumed wrong someone could get angry about that.
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Cat Herder 10:03 AM 07-19-2018
You may be overthinking this. "Check all that applies."

Both of the cultures the mother stated.
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Annalee 10:06 AM 07-19-2018
Originally Posted by Cat Herder:
You may be overthinking this. "Check all that applies."

Both of the cultures the mother stated.
I agree. In our new rules, there are requirements now for data reporting with areas like this which is confusing and adds to the already overwhelming guidelines. I wish each state entity would clarify EXACTLY what they want so there is not so much confusion.
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tenderhearts 10:08 AM 07-19-2018
thanks for all the advise
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Leigh 11:35 AM 07-19-2018
Originally Posted by tenderhearts:
how would you explain it to someone who seems sensitive to the question?
They don't HAVE to answer the question. You can just make your best guess and fill it out for them if they decline to (this is what I was advised to do).
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hwichlaz 12:00 PM 07-19-2018
It’s optional. Even though we’re required to ask, they are not required to answer. I actually added a box to mine that says “decline to state”.
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tenderhearts 12:37 PM 07-19-2018
I think I may add that box as well.
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