We need to expect better from infant care providers
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Fellow PG residents - please, let's expect better from our infant care providers in our neighborhoods. I called over a dozen in our area and toured several. Not one had safe cribs, free of suffocation hazards, and not one had a cleared out clean space on the floor for tummy time or crawling. I know in reading this, some of you will think I'm anti-daycare or impossible to please, but that's not true - I loved the in-home provider I used in NOVA when I lived there and I love the preschool I found for my older child here in PG, but what I saw of infant care provided in the gateway is just awful. One in-home provider didn't even try to hide the fact that infants in her home spend the whole day jailed in the pack n play while watching older kids play in her cramped living room - the entire floor was covered in toys and chock hazards and the pack n plays were filled with duplo legos, so I'm not sure how the babies are supposed to sleep on top of that. The one center that was the best of options available, with a spot, had dogs roaming freely throughout the facility and lounging in the kitchen where the older children's lunch is prepared. When I called to report it, the office said that it's not a violation for pets to be on the premise and interacting with the children, although that rule is intended to apply to in-homes rather than an owner bringing her pets to work at a center; and that if this were a restaurant, the dogs in the kitchen would be violation but for centers, it's ill-advised but not a violation of anything. It was, however, a violation not to tell the parents ahead of time that there were pets as part of the facility, so they got dinged on that and the person I made the report to said this was the first she was hearing of it.
If you see dogs shedding on your child's lunch, why in the world would you not report it? Why would my report of the nap nannies in every crib be the first that the licensing office was hearing of this? Please, I know many of us are frustrated with the options available to us and choose to utilize care closer to our work, or hire a nanny, or an au pair because the daycare options out here are limited - this is not going to change so long as we all stay silent and accept that this is the best our neighborhood has to offer. Can we please expect and demand better? When you see horrible things on tour at an in-home or a center, please report it. These places don't get shut down, so don't let guilt hold you back. They just get a mark on their record and a time frame in which to fix it - and that's what should happen! It happens in every other municipality in the area - no daycare in NOVA has a completely clean record, why would places that don't even have a safe place for a baby to sleep have no violations on record? The only way this will change is by having some one tell these providers that it's illegal, which you can try to do yourself and I have - believe me, I have, but obviously it's a more powerful message when coming from the office that issues their license. Also, I will be writing my state rep asking for review of the licensing standards and why in-homes in MD are allowed higher ratios than in other states; why animals are allowed in kitchen areas of centers and in-homes; and why there isn't an ongoing-training requirement like you have in other states. I encourage you to do the same. In the meantime, I do know of a number of high quality in-home providers who are in high demand, and we have at least one NAEYC accredited center that's not gov-affiliated, which I'll list below. If you have an excellent daycare, center or in-home, please recommend below. Let's give kuddos where it's deserved while also expecting better of our licensing agencies and our regulators. |
Anonymous
| Good for you! I'm in total agreement. I saw so much wrong when I was touring home day cares, that I opted for a child care center. Those aren't perfect either, but I found more accountability at a center. |
Anonymous
|
The Bowie YMCA was excellent for infant care. We only left because of the fire they had in 2012.
Angels and Cherubs inside of Jericho (the church) is good as well. |
Anonymous
| OP: can you please repost the infant centers that you did like. I am looking for infant care now and I have been sorely disappointed with the options. |
Anonymous
|
Sure, Greenwood (NAEYC accreditated - a rare find in our part of MD) and Heritage were the two centers that were good.
For in-homes, Marion Leonard in Mount Rainier gets fantastic reviews but I haven't toured because she was booked solid when I called. Bilingual Sunshine daycare also seemed good, but I didn't get to tour since they didn't have space at the time. |
Anonymous
| I agree with all of this. I had a dream daycare when I lived in Southern PG. Unfortunately we had to move into a different area of PG and all I've found are terrible options for infant daycare. Some of the home daycares I visited I really don't understand how any parent would leave their child there. There doesn't seem to be a lot of center options either but we were able to find a quality center after some serious searching. |
Anonymous
I toured Greenwood about 5 years ago and liked it, but they had a really long wait list and they are really expensive. My kids have been at Heritage going on 5 years now and we really like it there. They are also very reasonable - $1,000/mo for infants. Stay away from Gateway Child Development in Mt. Rainier, they are terrible. I did not like Rheema either. |
Anonymous
| Frankly OP. NOVA and PG are worlds apart in terms of daycare demand. I agree with you whole heartedly, but I live in NOVA. |
Anonymous
There is a lot of demand for infant daycare in PG. It's just not being met. The state government knows there is a shortage also. My previous daycare won a state grant to open up more infant slots due to the shortage. |
Anonymous
|
Fully agree with you as well! I didn't know it was just PG though - I thought this was common place
Another vote for Angels and Cherubs from me too They used to lease from Jericho but have now moved about 10 minutes away to another center The owners and dedicated teachers really make the difference - we were really happy there |
Anonymous
| My child is currently at Heritage, which has been good. We also toured Rainbows in Bowie and loved it. |
Anonymous
| OP the licensing standards in MD are exactly why you're seeing what you're seeing. Providers can only accept 2 children under 2. That means there are not a lot of infant spots in home daycares. If you can't afford a nanny but don't like centers, you look at in-homes. There's a lot of competition for the spots and people are more willing to look past some things. There are licensing standards against everything you mentioned. They simply need to be reported. The answer is not more ridiculous licensing standards. |
Anonymous
| This is why I'm only comfortable at large centers. |
Anonymous
You mention a problem about the licensing requirements, but then go on to say that the licensing requirements are not the problem. I think it is a problem that it's legally acceptable for pets to hang out in the kitchen while children's food is prepared and that the animals are allowed to interact with newborns without supervision. I also think it's a problem that the ratio allotment is structured the way it is. In NOVA and DC, in-homes primarily provide care to kids ages 3 months - 3 years. Preschools, whether public or private, then hold the bulk of the care for older kids. But in MD, because the providers are limited to only two infants, they have to take on a bunch of kids who probably should be in preschool elsewhere - and the ratio get really out of wack with 6 kids to one adult in a very small space that simply isn't developmentally appropriate. Enforcement is a larger issue though - I did not see a single in-home or even center with safe cribs for the infants and clean, cleared out space on the floor for tummy time and crawling. Places like that should not get a pass when applying for their license, nor should they get a report of "0 violations" on their annual inspections. Again, I'm not claiming every in-home is like this. There are two in-home providers with wonderful reputations in my neighborhood who I did not get to tour because they had no space, but I suspect their offerings were more up to snuff. My claim is that what I did see included a lot of violations and disregard for basic safety & sanitation that could be corrected, and would be corrected, if the providers & owners of these centers were told - I'll be back in 30 days and you're getting shut down if you don't take the fluffy pillows out of the cribs, get the dogs out of the kitchen, designate an place for infant crawling & tummy time, and throw out these choking hazards. In DC and NOVA, that's how it's done and the bar is higher there. The bar could also be higher here in PG county if we expected very basic safety standards to be met, and reported them when they weren't. |
Anonymous
|
Interesting. This has not been my experience at all in PG County. I did a TON of research before hand, and we really liked ALL of the ones we ended up visiting for my infant. We visited 4 centers and 1 in-home. I did not see ANY issues with animals, safety (crib or choking hazards) and there was plenty of space for tummy time, crawling, and development. But like I said, I did A WHOLE LOT of research before-hand. I spent DAYS reading reviews, searching forums, cross-checking licenses, pricing, reading the individual rules of the daycares and ruling places out. So I felt pretty good about my final list of places to visit. And they did not disappoint:
Little Explorer Day Care (In-home) Angels and Cherubs SKC Early Education Center Rising Generations Kiddie Academy |