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Newsletter- Friday, September 23, 2011

There was an article in my newsletter entitled, “Fingerprint checks for daycare workers sought.”  This information seemed relevant to my current professional development because I work in a corrections facility and we have many people there who are sex offenders.  The article mentioned that early childhood advocates in Missoula want fingerprint background checks to be a requirement for everyone in Montana working in a daycare.  They are hoping this will prevent sex or violent offenders from being employed in their daycare centers.  I think that this should be done in all facilities.  Parents are assuming that they are leaving their children in loving and trusting care while they are away.  You cannot look at a person and determine if they are a sex offender or not.  I work around them everyday and you would be amazed at how most sex offenders come off to be so caring and loving, while at the same time they are some of the most dangerous people to be around especially around children.  So, I hope they decide to mandated fingerprint into their law.

In my newsletter was article titled, “Parents Wait For Co-Pay Refunds After Cleveland Child Care Shuts Down.”  This article made me think about the idea of daycare center in a new way.  It reminded me of a family being hit by poverty.  I never gave much thought to a daycare center not receiving enough funding to keep the doors open for the children.  In the reading the Woodland Learning Center in Cleveland closed it doors two weeks ago, posting only a sign and a voice mail to give parents the bad news.  Parents were left with nowhere to take their children.  Woodland Learning Center claimed it closed due to declining enrollment and cuts in federal funding.  The parents’ say they felt robbed, and even the employees didn’t know what was going on.  This seemed to me that poverty hit the daycare center.

Information from my newsletter that adds to my understanding of how the three disciplines support the early childhood field was found in the article, New Jersey’s Poorest Districts Get More Pre-K Money.  It explained how the budget signed by Gov. Chris Christie in July increased K-12 money, but did not include additional preschool funding.  In May, Christie’s attempt to cut school funding by $1.6 billion was ruled unconstitutional by the state’s Supreme Court, and the court ordered funds restored to the state’s 31 poorest schools.  As we all know the most obvious component of providing quality programs is to have adequate funding.  We must not cut the funding to the programs that we have; if we do we are jeopardizing the future of our children by not providing them with the quality needed early on in life.

Other insights gained by reading my newsletter were from the article, “Single Mothers Hit Hard by Economy (Impact of the Economy on Child Care).”  In Illinois nearly one-quarter of families with children are headed by single women, who face high unemployment, low pay, and frequent poverty.  Nearly 39 percent of Illinois households headed by single mothers exist at the poverty level and 6.4 percent for married couples.

Reference

National Association of Child Care Resources & Referral Agencies. (Newsletter:

     http://capwiz.com/naccrra/mlm/signup/