Tag Archives: Safety

Citing multiple deaths, study calls for banning crib bumpers

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11/23/2015

For nearly eight years, a Washington University School of Medicine physician has been trying to alert parents, consumers and regulators to the danger of infant suffocation and injury from crib bumpers.

That alarm first came after his 2007 study attributing 27 deaths to crib bumpers from 1985 through 2005.

Yet, despite repeated statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics advising against their use, the demand for crib bumpers remains high, as does the overall public perception they are safe.

Indeed, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association continues to maintain in its formal platform that the organization does “not know of any infant deaths directly attributed to crib bumpers.”

Source: St. Louis Post Dispatch

Avaiilable at: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/citing-multiple-deaths-study-calls-for-banning-crib-bumpers/article_786694df-d048-5fc3-9472-98f50261b1b0.html

Innovation in monitoring in early care and education: Options for states

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4/2015

Executive Summary

Ensuring children are in safe environments that promote health and development is a top priority of families, state regulators, the federal government, and national organizations that accredit early care and education programs (ECE). This paper examines monitoring across ECE settings and considers lessons learned from the analogous sectors of child welfare and health. Although professional organizations in partnership with federal agencies developed national guidelines for health and safety, there is wide variation in state and local regulations around the minimum health and safety requirements for children in care. Areas of regulatory variation include: 1) thresholds for the number of children in licensed care at ECE facilities located in family child care homes (FCCs); 2) the comprehensiveness of background checks for ECE provider staff and individuals residing at FCCs; and 3) the frequency of monitoring visits.

ECE providers may receive funding from one or more public sources including, the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Head Start/Early Head Start (HS/EHS), State Pre-Kindergarten (State Pre-K), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Early Intervention and Special Education, and the Department of Defense Child Care. Providers funded by more than one public source are subject to multiple accountability systems that are not always aligned. ECE providers seeking national accreditation engage in yet another layer of accountability and quality improvement. Some states that are building or reforming Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) are attempting to create unified early learning standards and consistent ECE program ratings across funding streams and provider types.

Many states use differential monitoring to improve the efficiency of monitoring systems and technical assistance (TA) systems. As opposed to “one size fits all” systems of monitoring, differential monitoring determines the frequency and comprehensiveness of provider monitoring based on the provider’s history of compliance with standards and regulations. Providers that maintain strong records of compliance are inspected less frequently, while those with a history of non-compliance may be subject to more announced and unannounced inspections. This paper includes case studies from states involved in various stages of implementing differential monitoring approaches.

Implementation of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 (CCDBG), which was signed into law in November 2014, will likely result in more uniformity in state practice in some of the components of monitoring. Using examples from states reforming their child care licensing systems, this paper outlines the challenges and possibilities of building accountability systems that support positive child and family outcomes while reducing the burden on individual providers within multiple funding streams. This paper provides a general overview of the current monitoring system, and highlights several examples of promising state practices that are already underway. It offers a vision for accountability that addresses compliance with a minimum floor of health and safety standards, and promising strategies for continuous quality improvement. The goal of this paper is to inform upcoming changes in licensing and monitoring systems that will take place in the context of the reauthorized CCDBG implementation.

Source: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of health and Human Services.

Available at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/108601/rpt_ece_monitoring.pdf

Health Education Materials for Parents and Staff

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3/2015

Explore these low literacy health education materials below. The resources, which include topics such as lead awareness, home safety and injury prevention, and mental health, can be given to both parents and staff. Find useful information and basic tips that parents and staff can easily understand.

Lead Awareness
Lead is toxic to everyone, but unborn babies and young children are at greatest risk for health problems from lead poisoning. Unsafe levels of lead in blood can lead to a wide range of symptoms and can also affect a child’s developing brain. This brochure can be shared with parents and staff to inform them of how to avoid lead exposure.

Home Safety
Young children have the highest risk of being injured at home because that’s where they spend most of their time. The majority of childhood injuries can be predicted and therefore prevented. Supervision is the best way to prevent injuries at home but even the most prepared parents can’t keep kids completely out of harm every second of the day. This brochure can be shared with parents and staff to inform them of how to reduce injuries at home for their children.

Reducing Stress
Stress is a part of life. Yet, too much stress can have negative consequences. Too much stress can cause health problems and can make parenting more difficult. Caregiver stress can even contribute to children’s challenging behavior. This brochure identifies some easy-to-use stress reduction and self-care tips. It can be shared with parents and staff.

Learning about Depression
Parental depression is common and it is particularly common among Early Head Start and Head Start families. Parenting is challenging for every parent, at times; however, for parents experiencing depression it can be extremely difficult. It can be hard for parents experiencing depression to provide responsive, consistent, and sensitive care. When a parent is depressed it increases the risk of his or her child having behavioral, emotional, or cognitive problems. Seeking support to address depression can make a difference in the life of a parent and a child. This brochure can be shared with parents and staff to offer information about depression and strategies to seek support for concerns about depression.

Responding Positively to Your Child’s Behavior
All children misbehave or exhibit challenging behavior sometimes. How a parent responds can make a big difference in how a child develops. Treating a child with kindness and respect helps him or her to treat others with kindness and respect. Parents who nurture themselves and their children are teaching their child positive lifelong skills. This brochure can be shared with parents and staff to provide tips and tools to positively respond to your child’s behavior.

Source: Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, National Center on Health

Available at: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/health/health-literacy-family-engagement/family-education/low-lit-ed-mat.html

Child Care Development Fund Reauthorization Page

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November, 2014

On November 19, 2014, President Obama signed the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 into law.  This reauthorizes the child care program for the first time since 1996 and represents an historic re-envisioning of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program.  The new law makes significant advancements by defining health and safety requirements for child care providers, outlining family-friendly eligibility policies, and ensuring parents and the general public have transparent information about the child care choices available to them.

Source: Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families

Available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/ccdf-reauthorization

Child Care Health Advocate Credit and Non Credit Program

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As a collaborative partner with the Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS/Healthy Child Care Pennsylvania), the Center for Healthcare Education provides health professionals with consultation, training and technical assistance to improve early childhood education programs within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Child Care Health Advocate – Credit Program

Child Care Health Advocate (EARL160) – Health advocates are early childhood practitioners (directors, lead teacher, family child care providers) who see to it that their program integrates best practices in health, safety and nutrition, even though they may not perform those practices directly themselves. The course is intended to prepare the Child Care Practitioner to function in the role of a Child Care Health Advocate (CCHA). The course will address 15 different health and safety modules as a resource for child care directors, teachers, assistant teachers and child care practitioners. The Child Care Health Advocate who will be working in a child care setting will learn to assess, identify and prioritize health and safety needs of children and staff. Available online or on-campus. View the current course offering information (PDF).

Non-Credit Courses include:

  • Fire Safety Awareness
  • Playground & Active Play Safety
  • Emergency Preparedness: Practicing for Performance
  • Security Procedures for ChildCare Facilities
  • OSHA Blood Borne Pathogens
  • Infant and Toddler
  • Asthma
  • Pediatric CPR
  • Common Illness
  • Safe Medications
  • Children w/Special Needs
  • Childhood Obesity
  • Pediatric First Aid
  • Inclusion – Exclusion
  • Color Me Healthy
  • Health & Safety Trends
  • Child Abuse & Neglect
  • Food Allergies
  • Immunizations
  • Oral Health
  • Healthy Snacks
  • Stress & Wellness
  • Current Issues in Children’s Health
  • Personal Care Routines
  • Diapering Procedures
  • Flu Overview
  • Train the Trainer Willing to Teach
  • Color Me Healthy
  • Healthy Children Healthy Smiles
  • Healthy Outcomes for Young Children: Medication Administration in Early Education and Childcare Settings

View descriptions and registration information about currently available health and safety courses for child care providers.

Source: Northampton Community College Serving the Lehigh Valley and beyond.

IM 14-04 Bus Transportation and Safety – Head Start

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8/25/2014

School buses are the safest form of transportation for children. They are considered to be seven times safer than a car or other private passenger vehicle.1 For children and families living in poverty, transportation is often a major barrier to accessing community services, such as early care and education. Two-thirds of Head Start programs meet the needs of families by transporting more than a quarter of a million Head Start and Early Head Start children every year.2

Ensuring the safety of children is the highest priority of the Office of Head Start OHS. Unfortunately, some programs have experienced a transportation-related incident, such as children being:

  • Left on a bus
  • Released to an unapproved guardian at the bus stop
  • Sent home on the wrong bus
  • Left alone in a car while the parent or family member is in the Head Start center

While the broader community may believe these are isolated cases of human error, these occurrences represent serious, systemic failures within a Head Start grantees program operations. Head Start agencies providing transportation services are responsible for ensuring the safe transportation of children to and from programs and local field trips. Human error is inevitable, but grantees protect children’s safety by having proactive plans and redundant systems in place.

Source: Office of Head Start

Available at: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/standards/im/2014/resour_im_004_08252014.html

Environmental Health in Early Care and Education

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8/2014

EH is a collection of 123 nationally recognized health and safety standards that have the greatest impact on environmental health in early care and education. These standards and the associated 9 Appendices are a subset of materials available in Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 3rd Edition CFOC3. The purpose of this collection is to serve as a compilation of best practices for environmentally-healthy early care and education programs.

Support for this project was provided through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

The American Academy of Pediatrics AAP, the American Public Health Association APHA, and the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education NRC would like to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of all persons and organizations involved in the creation of this CFOC3 collection. Twenty individuals, representing seventeen organizations, reviewed and validated the chosen standards. Our sincere appreciation goes to all of our colleagues who willingly gave their time and expertise to the development of this resource.

Special acknowledgement is given for the technical assistance provided by Eco-Healthy Child Care®, a program of the Children’s Environmental Health Network CEHN.

Source: National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education

Available at: http://nrckids.org/index.cfm/products/environmental-health-in-early-care-and-education/

Where’s Baby? Look Before You Lock

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Pledge to Prevent Child Heatstroke in Cars

Heatstroke is the number one killer of children, outside of car crashes. That’s why the Administration for Children and Families has joined with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA to attempt to reduce these deaths by reminding parents and caregivers about the dangers of heatstroke and leaving children in hot cars.

Heatstroke is the leading cause of non-crash-related fatalities for children 14 and younger.

  • From 1998-2013, 606 children died due to heatstroke, representing 61% of total non-crash fatalities in this age group. Of the 606 deaths:
    • 52% were forgotten in the vehicle 29% gained access by themselves and became trapped
    • 18% were left intentionally
    • 1% were unknown cases
  • In 2013, 44 children died of heatstroke in the U.S.
  • Children are at a higher risk than adults of dying from heatstroke in a hot vehicle especially when they are too young to communicate.
  • Children overheat up to five times faster than adults.

Preventing Heatstroke Resources

Source: Administration for Children and Families

Available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ecd/look-before-you-lock

Pedestrian Safety 2014 Resource Guide

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07/2014

CSN has produced this resource guide to provide a comprehensive, annotated list of resources for pedestrian safety. The resource guide is divided into eight sections: Data; Safe Routes to School; Pedestrian Safety for Preschoolers; Other Programs, Strategies and Campaigns; Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation; Policy; Research; and Distracted Walking. Each item in this resource guide includes a short description and a link to the resource itself. Descriptions of reports, guides, toolkits, campaigns, websites, and initiatives are excerpted from the publications themselves while research articles are excerpted from the article abstracts.

Source: Children’s Safety Network

Available at: http://www.childrenssafetynetwork.org/resource/pedestrian-safety-2014-resource-guide

Early Childhood Educator Professional Development

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As a collaborative partner with the Early Childhood Education Linkage System ECELS/Healthy Child Care Pennsylvania, the Center for Healthcare Education provides health professionals with consultation, training and technical assistance to improve early childhood education programs within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Child Care Health Advocate – Credit Program

Child Care Health Advocate EARL160 – Health advocates are early childhood practitioners directors, lead teacher, family child care providers who see to it that their program integrates best practices in health, safety and nutrition, even though they may not perform those practices directly themselves. The course is intended to prepare the Child Care Practitioner to function in the role of a Child Care Health Advocate CCHA. The course will address 15 different health and safety modules as a resource for child care directors, teachers, assistant teachers and child care practitioners. The Child Care Health Advocate who will be working in a child care setting will learn to assess, identify and prioritize health and safety needs of children and staff. Available online or on-campus. Please click here to view current course offering information.

Non-Credit Courses include:

  • Fire Safety Awareness
  • Playground & Active Play Safety
  • Emergency Preparedness: Practicing for Performance
  • Security Procedures for ChildCare Facilities
  • OSHA Blood Borne Pathogens
  • Infant and Toddler
  • AsthmaPediatric CPR
  • Common Illness
  • Safe Medications
  • Children w/Special Needs
  • Childhood Obesity
  • Pediatric First Aid
  • Inclusion – Exclusion
  • Color Me Healthy
  • Health & Safety Trends
  • Child Abuse & Neglect
  • Food Allergies
  • Immunizations
  • Oral Health
  • Healthy Snacks
  • Stress & Wellness
  • Current Issues in Childrens Health
  • Personal Care Routines
  • Diapering Procedures
  • Flu Overview
  • Train the Trainer Willing to Teach
  • Color Me Healthy
  • Healthy Children Healthy Smiles
  • Healthy Outcomes for Young Children: Medication Administration in Early Education and Childcare Settings

View descriptions and registration information about currently available health and safety courses for child care providers.

Source: Northampton Community College

Available at: http://www.northampton.edu/center-for-business-and-industry/healthcare-education/continuing-education/early-childhood-educator-professional-development.htm