Daycare Undercover Investigation On Today Show In A Few Min!

[beachgrl]

Some preview or story of some nbc show investigation or look at daycares is coming on shortly...hmmmm

[beachgrl]

Oh wow, it was a mini preview of the hansen files for tonight at 10pm...and it wasnt good. He was doing it on all these providers with criminal backgrounds on file but yet were still able to open daycares because only 11 states run full background checks on providers...he said one woman was even running a center who had a conviction for shooting and killing her husband!! What???
Omg..i hate stories like this because it makes parents think all daycares are bad when in fact there are really great providers but like anything else, there are bad apples who shouldnt be doing it!

[kayla]

Yeah I did not appreciate this story. Made us daycare providers out to all be murderers, drug dealers, and thieves.... Really as if america wasn't already untrusting... I did not like what i saw... I thought it was extremely unproffesional... I'm sorry where i live everyone in the home gets background check so i dont know where they got the info they are putting on t.v.... to me this was a very disgusting preview i wont be watching the show... especially after what i saw on the today show...

[Lilbutterflie]

I haven't seen it; so I can't speak to how it portrays daycare providers.

But from the descriptions, I'd like to spin the perspective a little bit towards parents. I think it's good to shed some light on really terrible/criminal daycare providers. I think it's good to get parents thinking that they really need to be thorough and careful when they choose who will be watching their child.

I am sort of amazed sometimes at some parents; and how trusting they are of me when they really didn't take the time IMO to thoroughly get to know me or my daycare. I had one call me out of the blue (referred by a friend- but she was a stranger to me) on a Sunday night, needing afterschool care for her daughter starting the very next day. Without even interviewing me. And another had one interview with me and signed the contract without looking at a single other daycare. I actually encouraged them to interview with other providers... so that they could choose the provider they trusted the most. I want to make sure that if the parent chooses me, I am chosen after very careful consideration.

Perhaps this story might make some parents completely paranoid that their current provider is a psychopath; but I hope it at least motivates them to get to know and trust their provider prior to enrolling their children in care.

[JenNJ]

I haven't seen it; so I can't speak to how it portrays daycare providers.

But from the descriptions, I'd like to spin the perspective a little bit towards parents. I think it's good to shed some light on really terrible/criminal daycare providers. I think it's good to get parents thinking that they really need to be thorough and careful when they choose who will be watching their child.

I am sort of amazed sometimes at some parents; and how trusting they are of me when they really didn't take the time IMO to thoroughly get to know me or my daycare. I had one call me out of the blue (referred by a friend- but she was a stranger to me) on a Sunday night, needing afterschool care for her daughter starting the very next day. Without even interviewing me. And another had one interview with me and signed the contract without looking at a single other daycare. I actually encouraged them to interview with other providers... so that they could choose the provider they trusted the most. I want to make sure that if the parent chooses me, I am chosen after very careful consideration.

Perhaps this story might make some parents completely paranoid that their current provider is a psychopath; but I hope it at least motivates them to get to know and trust their provider prior to enrolling their children in care.

I WANT parents to be informed and research me. I want them to take care of their kids in every way possible. People research cars more than daycares. It makes me sad. Research will make the good providers rise up and the bad providers fail. THAT would be the ultimate satisfaction to me. I only want excellent providers in the world. Imagine how amazing that would be for the future.

[Country Kids]

Usually though parents don't have time to do research on childcares. My childcare isn't on the web, I don't do facebook, or anything like that. All my clients have all been word of mouth/referrals from friends and neighbors in 17 years.

I see time and time again when parents are looking for childcare when pregnant, people will actually say wait closer till the due date or baby born because so much can happen in that time. These are actually the parents that have the time and are looking at different childcares but many won't except them till baby is born.

When people shop for cars they take a Sat. or many weekends/look on the computor, read magazines, etc. Many providers won't do interviews while children are their, not on the weekends, some won't do evening appts. so really a parent sometimes just has to take what is good for them at the time.

I wish we could just go back to one income households so every child could be with their mamas!

[beachgrl]

While I think the show looks at only the extreme negatives it could find, it also potrays something we all already know, that there are providers out there who should not be caring for animals let alone children...but I hope they at least go into what states do background checks and also what parents can do to be proactive in choosing a good quality center for their child but I doubt they will talk about that on there, who knows?

I want my parents to research too and know if I am the best fit for their family while I also know that time limits them to what they can do...people take off work for many things and taking a half day to tour possible centers can't be that hard. I offer mainly evening and weekend (prefer evening) visits and have even done rare visits while children were in care just to help meet the parent's availabilty to come by so I am flexible when it comes to that. Anyone can get a background check on someone so that is easily done via the pc if parents really wanted to at least check that!

[PitterPatter]

Too much negative where is the positive news on daycare? Oh that's right the bad news drama draws more attention, no one cares when we do well for children! Since the media feels the need to make all daycares look bad perhaps someone should do a little show on how some clients treat us and disrespect our policies. Not to mention how horrible PARENTS make OUR lives with BS drama especially some of the subsidy!

[SunshineMama]

[QUOTE=Lilbutterflie;203347]I am sort of amazed sometimes at some parents; and how trusting they are of me when they really didn't take the time IMO to thoroughly get to know me or my daycare. QUOTE]

I know what you mean. I have always provided a list of references for every interview, and NO ONE has ever called any of my references, in the entire year I have been doing this. I find it very odd. When I was looking for childcare when I worked outside the home, I called references, googled, used facebook, and had my uncle in the PD do a background check.

[beachgrl]

Too much negative where is the positive news on daycare? Oh that's right the bad news drama draws more attention, no one cares when we do well for children! Since the media feels the need to make all daycares look bad perhaps someone should do a little show on how some clients treat us and disrespect our policies. Not to mention how horrible PARENTS make OUR lives with BS drama especially some of the subsidy!

Definitely, someone needs to do some shows on whatnits really like to runa daycare well and what we do as well as what kinds of things we have seen!

[MyAngels]

I just watched the whole show, and wasn't really surprised by most of it. We all know that the licensing agencies don't have enough time or personnel to do a very good job of monitoring existing daycare licensees, let alone do really thorough background checks that would have been necessary to screen for some of the offenses that Chris Hansen found.

The one thing I was surprised about was the fact that not many states run a national criminal background check - they just check their own state - and that not all do checks on others living in the home. I know my states does both of those things.

It always amazes me how people get caught off guard when Chris Hansen comes knocking, though - he's done enough of these shows that by now you'd think that if anybody opens their door to find him standing there they'd know they were in trouble ::.

[countrymom]

funny how lisencing doesn't have enought time, but they have enough time to write up silly rules (I just know what you ladies posts) maybe if they spent some of that time researching the providers then they would know these things. Instead they are more worried about how thick you play area is. kwim. Its time not used wisely.

I have parents who come and intereview when their children are a month old, here in ontario we have a 1 yr mat leave, so alot can change in a year. Parents need to step up too, its not like buying a car, you are leaving a child with us for 10 hours a day. I can tell which parents care about what goes on in my house and which ones don't care. I have good families now, but I've had some who could have cared less if their child watched tv all day.

[cheerfuldom]

i have never had a parent run a background check on me in 5 years. I always offer my info and they have to go do it themselves (a small fee) and no one has ever done it. Most call my references but some dont even do that. No one has ever asked who else lives in my house or ask any questions about my husband (not even for a name to google). Parents are TOO trusting!

As for the show, the majority of it was digging for something that wasn't there. Like that one lady that had done daycare spotlessly for 12 years but they found something from her past and shut the place down. I do believe there should be a nation wide background check as well as national standards but where is the compassion for someone that has proven that they have changed their life around? I am not talking about letting child molestors in to a daycare but some of these offenses were fights or mistakes that providers made YEARS ago. Some of it needed to be talked about but the rest was very gray. Like the lady that got probation for leaving her child in the car while she ran into a bank....she said that it was less than 5 minutes, the cops said it was 20 minutes and got probation for it and it was several years (or more?) previously. How many of us know parents that do this type of stuff ALL the time? I don't think it is okay but clearly she made a mistake with her own child, paid the price and I dont feel that it would make her unfit to run a daycare.

[Hunni Bee]

I forgot it was coming on and only caught the last 20 minutes of it.

I think the point of it was not to be a witch hunt, but to show the flaws in the system and to show parents they need to do a more thorough check on their providers before they place vulnerable children with them. As you can see, some of the providers got really angry when their past was brought to light, showing that there's a 100% chance that they would not disclose that information to prospective parents.

I agree the licensing agencies should do a MUCH better job of screening people who want to open a daycare, but the responsibility still falls to the parent to know who they leave their kid with for 10-12 hours a day. If you found a bottle of Pine-Sol in the soda aisle at Wal-Mart, and bought it and drank it, it wouldn't be Wal-Mart's fault for allowing it to be in the soda aisle. You are responsible for knowing what you are consuming, and sometimes it takes more than just judging on outward appearances.

Not anymore, but we have had parents to register through Social Services and send their kids to us on the van on the first day without ever stepping foot in our center or meeting us. They assumed that because SS recommended us, that we were okay....but that is entirely too trusting and lazy, if you ask me.

[nannyde]

They have the whole show here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/#/46516380

I thought it was pretty good. I think parents need to know that the background checks the state does is pretty limited. My state asks what other states you have lived in but if I were to be deceptive about that they wouldn't know. I had to undergo fingerprinting but that was for my nurse's license.

In my state you don't have to even be registered. There are thousands of providers in my state doing child care without any background check at all. It's perfectly legal here. I think this show missed the boat in explaining that in some states you don't have to do anything at all to take care of kids and it's perfectly legal.

I get tired of the "drop in unnanounced" solution they always give in these stories. I know many excellent providers who don't allow parents to drop in unnanounced before the child attends the child care and even if the child does the parent only has access to their own child. We have to remember that the parents themselves are not screened before seeking child care. We need full disclosure on parents, staff, and owners. We have excellent technology now. We need to set up a way for parents to screen providers and providers to screen parents for nationwide child abuse and criminal records.

Providers need to know if the parents have been convicted of abuse or sexual abuse. They need to know if parents have any violence or drug charges. Parents need to know the same for their providers. We really need to have ANY adult who is on the property for any reason to be completely screened and the screenings need to be frequent. I think we need screenings every six months for everybody.

They did one scene where they came up to a provider while she was loading kids and asked to see the place. They made it sound like she was hiding something because she wouldn't allow three total strangers to take a look in her home without an appointment. How dangerous would it have been for her to allow them to just come right in? She's damed if she does and damed if she doesn't. Allowing them in would have been dangerous. Not allowing them in means she's hiding something.