The Evolution of the Child Life Profession in North America

Since 1920 the child care profession was started and also made improvements in the health care experience of the children by giving them the opportunity to learn, play and prepare for the future endeavors. These child life services were necessary for improving the emotional stability and healthy development of hospitalized children while mitigating the fear and pain associated with treatment. 

Lot of research was conducted regarding the alarming incidence of infant deaths in hospitals and foundling homes to the inability of babies to tolerate the sensory deprivation imposed by their surroundings and the absence of sufficient human contact. These infant studies were cautionary models for the exploration of capacities in toddlers and older children to interpret and withstand painful and frightening hospital experiences when the familiar comforts of family and home were absent. 

Many children faced long hospitalizations for chronic illness.This provided an opportunity for change. Play/recreation therapists and teachers were hired to organize activities, provide schooling and psycho-social support for listless and bored children. Their work often involved teaching hospital staff about the non-medical and emotional needs of children as well as orienting and supervising volunteers. At this time, most play programs were not taken seriously.

In 1965, a group of pioneering women in the field met in Boston to share their work, triumphs and challenges. Their goal was to create child and family friendly hospital environments. These women established The Association for the Well Being of Hospitalized Children and Their Families. It officially became known as the Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals (ACCH, 1967) and

 In 1979, was renamed the Association for the Care of Children’s Health. ACCH membership included doctors, nurses, child life specialists, parents and other health professionals working with children and families. The Child Life Study Section was created to help the child life profession achieve a separate identity within ACCH to continue developing its own professional practices and policies.

During the 1970s, child life professionals collaborated to define the theoretical basis of their work with children, the essential elements of professional practice that are necessary, and the requirements of an educational program to prepare students for the profession. The number of child life programs increased substantially, and colleges developed academic programs incorporating hospital internships to prepare students to work with the hospitalized child.

In 1982, the Child Life Council (CLC) was established with its own officers and its own professional development conference. A method of professional certification was adopted which assured a standard of child life specialist practice,

By 1998 a standardized Child Life Professional Certification Examination was in place.

By the end of the 1980s, substantial professional resources and official documents had been produced: program review tools, requirements of professional competency, how to start a child life program, standards of clinical practice and standards of educational preparation.

In 1983, ACCH obtained a research grant to study the efficacy of a hospital program based in child life theory and the practice of reducing stress and anxiety. Based on the results of the Phoenix Research Project, Psychosocial Care of Children in Hospitals: A Clinical Practice Manual was written.

During the 1990s, a health care crisis developed. Some of the results of hospital restructuring and cost containment initiatives were reduction in child life specialist positions, shortened lengths of stay, increased outpatient visits as well as increased home care and hospice programs for children. In response, the CLC developed the Vision-to-Action strategic planning process. A representative group of child life professionals was elected by the general membership to study how the profession was to move forward into the 21st century. Their recommendations were brought to the membership at the 1996 conference in Albuquerque for discussion and action.

In the new millennium, child life continues in the traditional hospital setting (e.g., inpatient, outpatient, day program, ER) as well as in many nontraditional settings. In addition to hospitals, child life specialists are employed in hospice programs, camps, early intervention programs, courtrooms, dental practices, support/bereavement groups, community programs, and private practice, among others.

Cultural Differences and Baby Sleep

In the U.S. and some other Western countries, many parents work hard to get their babies on predictable, regular schedules. And there’s a lot to be said for establishing a routine — it often helps regulate a baby’s nap-time sleep (and even nighttime sleep!).

However, we've found that parents from other countries tend to have a more relaxed, on-the-go mentality when it comes to schedules. In these countries, it’s normal for baby’s sleep schedule to look different from one day to the next. And it’s fine for naps to happen on the go, while mom and dad are out running errands or spending time with friends.

The idea that some parents take steps to train, or to teach, their babies to sleep is understood and accepted (even if not every Western parent would agree with some of the practices associated with sleep training, like cry it out methods.)

In the Western world, co-sleeping isn't exactly the norm. Here in the West, we tend to sleep our babies in cribs, in a separate nursery. Room-sharing is still popular in the first 6 months or so, but other forms of co-sleeping (like co-sleeping long-term, or bed-sharing) are still more on the rare side among Western moms.

In countries around the world, however, this isn't the case. For example, in many countries, parents and children share the same bed for several years. This is the case in many Asian countries — babies sleep with their parents until they’re toddlers, and at that point, they move to their own small bed near their parents’ bed. It’s also standard practice in some countries to sleep your baby in the same bed as an extended family member (like a grandmother, or an aunt.). This is particularly true for countries in which living with extended family under the same roof is the norm.

This is far from the case around the world. In many cultures, the extended family takes an active role in helping to raise children. Sometimes, family members all live together under one roof, meaning that grandma takes the night shift with the baby as often as mom does.

Childcare With a Difference - Woman Inspires Learning, Reading at Historic Child Care

Many of those children looked upon the walls of Happy Time Child Care Center and saw the same faces as their parents and grandparents. Shepard lined the walls of the daycare with portraits of noted black Americans, from Harriet Tubman and Booker T. Washington to Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and Jesse Owens.

There was a time in the early 1970s when it was extremely difficult to find books about leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in Mansfield and in cities across the United States.The library did not have African-American books.Shepard, 80, opened Happy Time Child Care Center out of her living room in 1967. 

Some child care centers uses child care management software for their management operations so as to give better service to its customers. Staff in the center finds it easier to do enrollment and billing using a child care management software. Parents also uses the software for keeping in touch with the center and paying the bills. 

Her goal at the time was to teach children on Mansfield’s mostly black north end how to read — a task she fulfilled for 48 years until the daycare closed just months ago.She says children often ask her about the people in the pictures, which leads to conversations about their history.

There were the basics, of course, for young children. There were flashcards, pictures and entry-level books — an entire reading system for children up to 5 years old.But learning how to read was only the beginning for those students.Shepard ordered a number of books on famous black Americans from Chicago-based retail outlets in the 1970s. Under Shepard, teachers at the daycare would often read those books to children when they became old enough to understand.

Most of those children, who still came to the daycare for after-school care around the ages of 8 or 9, would begin reading the books by themselves.By 1992, Shepard had her students take home books from her private library and write book reports on famous black Americans to be delivered orally every Friday.

Learning to read became just as important as reading to learn.She says children often ask her about the people in the pictures, which leads to conversations about their history. all the kids know Martin Luther King, and that’s good, but there are other Civil Rights leaders who also (contributed),” Shepard helped establish the Culliver Reading Center, 276 Harker St., which aims to provide children ages 5 through 12 with a safe place to go where they can continue reading and learning about black American history.

Teacher Locks Toddlers in Closet

In shocking security-video footage at Pinocchio Children’s Palace in East Flatbush, teacher Shandra Fallen, 25, and her assistant, Amellia Samuda, 34, are captured ushering 2-year-olds into the classroom closet.

A sadistic Brooklyn day-care teacher locked terrified toddlers alone in a tiny, dark storage closet and laughingly claimed it was a lesson in “how to survive,” according to the facility’s owner. Day-care owner Tatiana Ilyaich said she discovered the solitary confinement in June, when she heard crying coming from Fallen’s classroom across the hall from her office. 

She found the teachers in the room and most of their young charges taking naps on their cots — and sobs coming from the supply closet. She opened the door and saw a scared young boy inside.

It’s kind of a game they’re playing with the kids,was the response from the daycare authorities The owner said she immediately scoured security-camera footage for signs of similar incidents. Images taken on May 14 chilled her.

In the footage viewed by The Post Fallen can be seen putting one small child into the closet, which is packed with supply-stuffed shelving, and leaving him there alone for three minutes before releasing him. She then picks out 2-year-old Mahli Mathias and guides him to the same closet before shutting him in. Seven minutes later, Fallen returns and opens the door. She steps into the closet and out of view. After about a minute, Fallen steps out and shuts the door behind her, leaving the boy inside.

Another toddler walks over and pounds on the outside of the closed door, but neither adult pays any attention. Samuda then goes into the closet, shutting herself inside with the boy for another minute before exiting alone. Mahli is finally allowed out 10 minutes after he was first imprisoned.

The day she viewed the video, Ilyaich said she reported the abuse to authorities and alerted parents. She fired the two teachers the next business day. The Administration for Children’s Services and the city Health Department said they investigated. But it is unclear if law enforcement was ever notified, or if investigators ever viewed videotapes or interrogated the teachers about being alone with the child inside the closet. Both the NYPD and the Brooklyn DA’s office told The Post they had no record of the case.

Mahli’s mom, Gabrielle Henmings, is suing Pinocchio, Fallen and Samuda in Brooklyn Supreme Court, for unspecified damages and is accusing the teachers and the day care of negligence.

Source: http://nypost.com/2014/09/07/teacher-locks-toddlers-in-closet-to-teach-them-how-to-survive/

Young Star rates day care

Young Star is a five-star quality rating and improvement system for regulated child care programs created by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families that supports families in making this decision.

The rating scale recognizes practices that early learning settings have in place that are proven to be good for kids. Young Star gives families a snapshot of a program’s quality to compare with their own views on quality child care software. 

Making an informed choice about who will care for our children while we are working is one of the most difficult yet impactful decisions a family will make. More and more, research tells us that our children's healthy development depends on safe and positive experiences during the first few years of life.

A child care program’s star rating is based on four categories of quality:

1. Provider education and training: Children benefit when their teachers and caregivers have a solid foundation in early care and education principles and practices.
2. Learning environment and curriculum: When teachers and caregivers create meaningful experiences for infants and young children, they are more likely to have long-term school success.
3. Business and professional practices: Well-respected, fairly compensated professionals, who are actively maintaining professional standards and business practices, are better able to respond to meet the needs of children and their families.
4. Health and wellness: Children grow up in the context of their families, communities and culture.

These standards look at the outcomes of the whole child from nutrition and physical activities to meeting special needs and being responsive to how kids form relationships. Young Star program staff provide on-site technical consultation and independent review and assessment to programs.

Consultants review programs for evidence of meeting quality indicators related to the four quality categories.In Marathon County, approximately 5 percent of rated child care programs have earned four- or five-star ratings, 29 percent are rated at three stars, and 66 percent are rated two stars. About 26 percent of total programs have not been rated. Star ratings are a tool for families to make informed choices.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/life/2014/09/02/childcaring-column-youngstar-rates-day-care/14741629/

Worried About Exposed Outlets, Accessible Knives at Day Care?

Worried about exposed outlets, accessible knives at day care? There’s a better way

Many were concerned to learn of the deficiencies found at licensed child care providers in Maine after a 2013 audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Inspector General.

In unannounced visits to child care providers, inspectors found the following: exposed outlets; an unprotected, active space heater directly next to toys; an exposed sewage pipe and water stains on the ceiling; pet food, trash and stained carpet in a child’s play area; and knives in unlocked cabinets accessible by children.

There also were expired medications in first-aid kits, a broken slide, no record of rabies vaccinations for pets in several facilities and no records that criminal history reports on staff had been completed. Because having safe facilities and being able to prove staff members don’t have a history of abusing children are basic requirements for running a day care facility, these places failed to meet a relatively low bar.

Does worrying makes anything possible it will cause you only health problems so before you decide to enroll your kid in a daycare center then you need to check about the daycare center quality check.

If you, as a responsible parent, want to know ahead of time whether a local child care provider is apt to electrocute your kid, there is a resource you can use. Go to childcarechoices.me, search for providers in your area and see how they rate. 

The Quality Rating and Improvement System was created by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Participating early childhood programs are given a rating on a four-step scale, with Step Four being the highest level attainable. Of the 1,829 family child care and center-based providers enrolled in the voluntary rating system — only about half of them are enrolled — nearly 17 percent are at the highest Step 

Four, which means their program has had no substantiated licensing violations within the past three years, has a daily schedule and curriculum plans, observes children’s skills and records them three times per year, is in regular communication with parents, has parent conferences twice a year, conducts parent surveys, holds regular staff meetings, has national accreditation, has staff with the highest amounts of training and more.

If your child care provider isn’t participating in the rating system, consider asking why. If they’re on a lower step, ask if they’re working toward a higher one. Sometimes parents are hindered by where they live — there may not be many child care options nearby — so it could help to inquire.

Also, know that there are incentives in the form of tax credits for parents to send their children to top-rated child care providers and help offset the costs associated with higher quality care.Parents shouldn’t have to worry about their children at day care. The ratings system is a great start to help ease their minds.

Grant to Reduce Childcare Costs for Needy Students

The grant funds will be used to reduce the cost of childcare for students who qualify as low-income. Some child care centers in US are active with local communities and are managed by professional people. Child care software are essential part of the systems used in the child care centers.

 

A four-year $427,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education will be used to reduce the childcare costs of low-income UCCS students.Ida Bauer, director, Family Development Center, was recently notified of a first-year $106,753 award from the “Child Care Access Means Parents in School Program” from the U.S. Department of Education. The four-year grant will bring a total of $427,012 to the campus service that provides care for the young children of students, faculty, staff and community members.

This year, Bauer estimates that about 60 students will see their childcare bills reduced by 30 to 45 percent. This grant makes the UCCS Family Development Center less expensive for students than even the cheapest options available in our community,Knowing that your child is across the street from where you are taking classes, and receiving excellent care, allows students to concentrate on their studies and be successful. Joy and Jeremy Tredway recently shared their experience with the FDC.

Joy Treadway, an Air Force officer, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and Jeremy Tredway enrolled the couple’s then three-year-old daughter, Jasper at the Family Development Center so that he could attend classes at UCCS.“Knowing that my daughter was loved and cared for by my husband and the women at the FDC meant everything to me,” Joy Tredway wrote. “It meant literally everything – I couldn’t hug my baby. I couldn’t watch her grow. I could hardly talk to her on the phone. This was everything to me at the most difficult time of my life.”

The UCCS Family Development Center received the grant, in part, because of the large number of low-income students at UCCS. Student income status is verified in conjunction with the Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment. As much as 40 percent of the freshman class will receive a Federal Pell Grant, a need-based grant for low-income undergraduate students.

Bauer will review the financial status of students who currently have children at the FDC and notify them of reduced monthly bills. She expects those notices to go out by Monday, September 22 and for a positive reaction. Most people, when they see a letter with a bill, expect the worst, this grant, and the corresponding price reduction that it creates, will help a lot of students to succeed since access to affordable, quality child care is directly linked to parental success in school. Additionally, it will reduce their need for student loans over the four years by as much as $14,000 which will also make them happy for many years.