PARENTS

NEW: Healthy Kids, Healthy Care

The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education (NRC) is pleased to bring you the new web-based tool, Healthy Kids, Healthy Care www.healthykids.us.

Designed for parents, Healthy Kids, Healthy Care contains 34 key health and safety practices for parents and families to look for when evaluating and choosing child care/early education programs. Parents can also use the resources to improve the quality of their child’s current program. Parents will find answers to important questions such as:

• When should I keep my sick child home from child care?


• What is the appropriate number of children per caregiver or teacher?


• What should I do when my child is bitten in the classroom?


• Caregivers and teachers will also find the resources useful to evaluate and improve their services and environments.

Healthy Kids, Healthy Care gives quick access to key information, as well as offering users the opportunity to look into a topic in detail. For each topic, Healthy Kids, Healthy Care provides specific ideas for parents on how to help and work in partnership with their caregivers to ensure healthy children and safe environments. The website offers caregivers and parents links to additional web resources related to each topic.

Healthy Kids, Healthy Care is based on Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care, 2nd edition.

Topics are arranged in 6 clusters: Caregivers, Cleanliness, Emotional Health, Healthy Habits, Illness/ Chronic Conditions/Special Needs, and Safety.

Resources to help in choosing a quality child care program

• A Parents Guide to Choosing Safe and Healthy Child Care
  
  
• 13 Indicators of Quality Child Care: Research Update, by Richard Fiene, PhD
  
  
• Find child care now
  
  
• On this website we have all fifty states’ licensing requirements which your provider should be complying with. For a listing of those facilities that are licensed in your state consult your state licensing agency.
  
  
• Your local resource and referral agency is another good source on available child care in your area.

Have there been any complaints on facilities I am looking at?

Check with your State child care licensing agency.

What do experts recommend with regards to health and safety in child care?

See Caring for Our Children and Stepping Stones for the latest information.

Looking for specific information on these and other topics?

• Biting
• Brain development
• Serving Children with Special Health Care Needs
• Liability
• Nutrition
• Reducing the Risk of SIDS
• Coping with Disasters and War



• For additional topic specific resources see our Standards-Based Resources, Healthy Kids, Healthy Care, or our links page for other valuable health and safety Websites.