2 Texas children dead from being left in a hot car | children, hernandez, texas - KFDM-TV Channel Six
A baby dying in a hot car can happen in 10 minutes of forgetting. It's good to see this daycare owner stepping up with the observation roll call is better than head counting.
2 more children dead in a hot van, this time in Texas.
From the news report and a responsible idea from daycare owner Dina Hernandez:
"Hernandez is the owner and director of Groves Red Apple Day Care.Today they're going on a field trip. Hernandez has 53 children to look after...each one just as important as the next."
"We do a roll call by name, not by head count, because you could count the same child twice..roll call on the van and off the van," said Dina Hernandez."
As a licensor when doing complaint investigations on daycare homes where we were given a heads up of a provider being overcapacity and what they would do to hide children when the licensor came to the door, I know how hard it can be to do a head count on moving children.
These kind of daycare providers would delay letting the licensor in while the assistant sneaked kids out the backdoor or upstairs to hide them in closets like the former day care provider in Clark County, Connie King, whom the Department of Early Learning (DEL) did a settlement with rather than revoking her license. In addition, when I was her licensor prior to the name change of the child care licensing agency I wasn't allowed to complete my investigation or do monitoring on her business. Parents reported not being allowed to come into her house to get their own children.
While I quickly counted 13 children in the backyard and downstairs playroom the assistant "disappeared". The provider did not want me to go upstairs, she said it wasn't licensed "space". There were 8 children upstairs (no fire escape), 2 of them babies. 21 children and one adult. The maximum capacity in Washington State is 12 with an assistant for family home daycare.
Overcapacity and supervision is a serious health and safety issue in daycare.
An issue ignored for more than a decade by unelected bureaucratic managers in Washington State. Other states have the same lack of oversight and supervision regarding capacity.
Having the children vocalize and interact in a roll call activity is connection and community. It can be life saving in a hot car.
May through August are the worst months for babies dying in hot cars.
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