CHILD DAY CARE

Child Day Care

Child Day Care is the childcare during the day by a person other than the child's parents or legal guardians, typically someone outside the child's immediate family. Day care centers are known in British English as creches. In Australia, day care is generally called child care.

Babysitting is the occasional temporary care of a child during the absence of his or her parents. Day care usually refers to ongoing care during specific periods, such as the parents' time at work. Day care tends to take a more formal structure, with education, child development, discipline and even preschool falling into the fold of services.

Some day care providers care for children from several families at the same time, in the home of the day care worker or in a specialized day care facility. Some employers provide day care for their employees at or near the place of employment. Day care in the child's own home is traditionally provided by a nanny.

Child Care

Childcare is the act of caring for and supervising minor children. (In Australia, daycare is referred to as "childcare")

It is traditional in western society for children to be looked after by one or both of their parents, but the need for two-job households means that childcare is often delegated, at least part of the time, to childminders or crèches.

Enormous changes have taken place over the last two generations concerning the way in which children are cared for. Years ago the child's mother took sole responsibility for bringing up her child (apart from those children whose parents were wealthy enough to employ a nanny or a governess) whereas nowadays parents both work full time. In today's world, it has become an economic necessity for both parents to work against a background of ever increasing costs plus a lifestyle, which our grandparents could never have begun to imagine. Child care centers is now extremely big business. Care centers for babies and toddlers have mushroomed and, in some cases, parents have to put their child's name down to attend a particular care centers soon after the child is born.

Most Western countries also have compulsory education, and during the time the children are at school, the school will act in loco parentis. Where parents are missing or dead, or unable or unfit to care for children, state agencies such as social services may take on the childcare role. Wealthy people who prefer the services of professionals may delegate the parental role almost completely to nannies.

However, for many the use of paid childcare is a matter of choice with arguments raging on both sides about whether children suffer or not.There is no doubt that for all children the first few years are vitally important to form a basis for good education, morality, self-discipline and social integration. Consistency of approach, skills and qualifications of careers and community ownership have been shown in many studies to improve the chances of a child reaching his or her full potential - for example a recent study in Australia showed that 20% of careers working in large commercial child care chains would not put their own children in the centre they work in, whereas only 2% of careers in community owned not-for-profit centres had similar concerns.

One of the challenges for parents who choose to use childcare is finding qualified providers. Some jurisdictions require licensing or certification. Parents may also turn to independent rating services, or rely on recommendation and referrals.

Many organizations (in the developed world) campaign for free or subsidized childcare for all, others campaign for tax breaks or allowances to allow parents a non-finance driven choice. Many of the free or subsidized childcare programs in the United States are also Child Development programs, or after school programs which hire certified teachers to teach the children while they are in their care. In Australia most child care services are part of the national Quality Assurance system which ensures they provide good developmental programs. Most countries have laws relating to childcare, which seek to prevent and punish child abuse. In many societies, the childcare role is taken on by the extended family.

Baby Sitter

Babysitting is the practice of temporarily leaving a child in the care of someone other than his or her guardians. Babysitting is most commonly performed as an odd job by teenagers for extra money, stereotypically girls. In general, the child being watched is of some family or social relation to the babysitter, although professional babysitting services are also extant.

The term "baby-sit" (from "baby" plus the agent form of "sit") first appeared in 1937, and its short-form "sitter" is attested from 1943. The use of the word "sit" to abbriviate "to baby-sit" is recorded from 1966. The term probably originated from the action of the caretaker "sitting with" the baby in another room, whilst the parents were entertaining or busy in another.

Baby Care

Infant is a formal term for the word baby, the youngest category of child. The term "infant" derives from the Latin word in-fans, meaning "unable to speak." "Infant" is also a legal term with the (quite different) meaning of minor; that is, any child under the age of legal adulthood. A human infant less than a month old is a newborn infant or a neonate[1]. The term "newborn" includes premature infants and postmature infants, as well as full term newborns.

Baby care is the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance and protection of infants. It is the practical application of the principles of early childhood education and development. It is on two levels - the physical well-being of the baby and the mental well-being of a baby.

Child Care Services

The very words "Child Care" can create a wealth of emotion when the subject is raised. Caring for a child is one of the most important things anyone can do. Taking proper care of a child can mean the difference in development between a well adjusted and mal-adjusted adult. In the United States, the term child welfare is used to describe a set of government services designed to protect children and encourage family stability. These typically include investigation of alleged child abuse and neglect ("child protective services"); foster care; adoption services; and services aimed at supporting at-risk families so they can remain intact ("prevention services" or "family preservation services"). Though the Federal government sets rules which all States must follow and provides significant funding, it is the fifty states that have primary responsibility for establishing and operating child welfare systems.

Most children who come to the attention of child welfare social workers do so because of any of the following situations, which are often collectively termed child maltreatment:

1- Neglect (including the failure to take adequate measures to protect a child from harm)
2- Emotional abuse
3- Sexual abuse
4- Physical abuse

The Government's Administration for Children and Families reports that in 2004, approximately 3.5 million children were involved in investigations of alleged abuse or neglect, and an estimated 872,000 children were determined to have been abused or neglected. An estimated 1,490 children died that year because of abuse or neglect. As of September 30, 2004, there were 517,000 children in the United States in foster care.

Purpose of the Child Care Services

The child care services means child welfare system generally operates to protect children. In the U.S. another purpose is to ensure a safe permanent home for children. The Adoption and Safe Families Act ASFA requires concurrent planning in all instances in which a child is removed from a home because of maltreatment. It also requires that a permanent placement be made or planned within fifteen months of removal. This is different that the Canadian and English child welfare systems in which the child can be mad a permanent Crown Ward and, therefore, not freed for adoption. In addition, in the U.S. child welfare system, when a child is freed for adoption, there are incentives to encourage families to adopt the child. For example, subsidies are provided until the child is eighteen in certain circumstances, such as an older child, special needs child, etc. The subsidy rate varies, depending on the needs of the child.

Types of Child Care Services

Many forms of child care are used. Below are links to descriptions of the major service types:

1- Aboriginal Playgroups and Enrichment program
2- Family day care services
3- In-home care
4- Long day care centres
5- Mobile children's services and toy libraries
6- Multifunctional Aboriginal children's services (MACS)
7- Multifunctional children's services
8- Occasional care
9- Outside school hours care services
10- Vacation care services
11- Quality Assurance Systems for care services

The broad objective of the Quality Assurance (QA) systems is to ensure that children in care have stimulating, positive experiences and interactions that will foster all aspects of their development and promote quality care for all children in children's services.

The aim of the QA systems is to provide a framework for reviewing, measuring and improving the quality of the work being done by approved child care providers. The QA systems focus on quality outcomes for children. They are processes of self-study and improvement against principles of good quality care. Quality systems and accreditation aim to improve outcomes for children; and improve the accountability of child care to the public; and better equip services to cater for children's individual needs.

Care Center

The very words "Child Care" can create a wealth of emotion when the subject is raised. Caring for a child is one of the most important things anyone can do. Taking proper care of a child can mean the difference in development between a well adjusted and mal-adjusted adult. Thousands upon thousands of words have been written on the subject of child care and today child care itself has grown into a huge industry.

Enormous changes have taken place over the last two generations concerning the way in which children are cared for. Years ago the child's mother took sole responsibility for bringing up her child (apart from those children whose parents were wealthy enough to employ a nanny or a governess) whereas nowadays parents both work full time. In today's world, it has become an economic necessity for both parents to work against a background of ever increasing costs plus a lifestyle, which our grandparents could never have begun to imagine. Child care centers is now extremely big business. Care centers for babies and toddlers have mushroomed and, in some cases, parents have to put their child's name down to attend a particular care centers soon after the child is born.

All parents think their children are special and they are. However, once a baby or toddler begins to attend child care centers, nursery or nursery school that child has no choice but to learn and accept that attention from staff has to be shared between all the children. An only child has become used to being the focus of attention at home. It often comes as a considerable shock for an only child to realise the world doesn't revolve round him/her. However, children are far more versatile and resilient than most parents realise and most children soon adapt to a new environment. In care centers this forced interaction with other children can in fact, be extremely beneficial, especially for only children. Many of these only children often have to cope, at some stage, with the arrival of brothers or sisters, which frequently creates jealousy on the part of an only child. In care centers having learnt to share attention with others prepares a child to accept a new member of the family far more easily than would have been the case had that child not learnt to interact with children of the same age.

Choosing a suitable care centers usually throws parents into a panic as they consider the implications. How will they recognise which care centers offer excellent care? Will all the staff be fully trained? What is the percentage of staff to children? Are meals provided? What is the level of cleanliness, both in the care centers and in the kitchens? Is time set aside for babies and toddlers to sleep? How good is security at the care centers? Does bullying occur? What arrangements are in place if a child should become sick? Many parents feel overwhelmed and have no idea where to turn for advice. Care centers which fulfil all the requirements needed to operate a successful care centers are normally registered with the local community which will be happy to supply details of these care centers to anxious parents. One of the best ways of deciding upon a suitable care centers is, of course, by recommendation. Mothers whose children already attend care centers are generally are only too happy to advise other mothers which care centers are particularly good as opposed to those which are merely satisfactory.

Another option for childcare is to employ a nanny who will work at the family home. This option has become something of a minefield due to fairly recent high profile cases in which a nanny has physically harmed a child in her care. Other cases have actually resulted in the death of the baby by the nanny left in charge. It must be emphasised that these cases are very rare indeed and are not representative in any way of the majority of child care undertaken by nannies. A reputable agency supplying nannies has strict rules in place for their selection. References will be required as to the nanny's previous positions and will be scrupulously followed up. If the references are not satisfactory, the nanny will not be recommended for that particular vacancy or any other.

A section of childcare centers often taken for granted is that of grandparents who are happy to devote countless hours looking after their grandchildren. Grand parents offer one of the very best forms of childcare, simply because of the relationship between them and their grandchildren whom they look on as their own. In addition, this form of childcare centers usually comes free although some parents give financial payment for the time and effort expended on their children by doting grandparents.

There is no doubt that most babies and toddlers acquire confidence by attending care centers. A child who has never spent time away from home finds it tremendously stressful if he/she ever has to cope with the absence of a mother perhaps through hospitalisation. On the other hand, a child who has learnt to adapt to a different environment will not be nearly as traumatised by the absence of a parent and will be able to deal with the separation far more easily.

Obviously, all children attending care centers have to conform to certain rules, which amount to a form of discipline. It has long been acknowledged that children exposed to discipline welcome the fact that boundaries have been set which makes them feel more secure and, consequently, happier. Some children will always rebel but all children will be faced with some form of discipline as they grow up and will also be expected to comply with rules and regulations in the workplace. Without such rules, anarchy would reign. Quite simply, discipline is based on showing consideration for other people and their possessions.

By attending a good care center offers children the chance to interact with others, acquire confidence and accept some basic rules. Most of these children develop into successful, happy adults.