History of Child Care in Washington State - YouTube
This is a Utube video put out by the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) agency. The day care licensing laws were passed in 1966 in Washington State when 3 children died in a fire in Seattle; four others were critically injured.
In the 1970s a federal bill that would have gotten the government into the daycare business was vetoed by President Nixon.
The 1990s saw federal money begin to pour into the day care and early education systems and this is where Child Care Resource and Referral came into existence. The video describes that the money is for improved training and for CCRR to link parents with providers.
Again I must point out that CCRRs do not have access to the most vital information a parent needs to make a more informed decision about where they will put there children. Why are millions of dollars of our tax money going into these organizations that don't know the most important information to pass onto parents?
And why doesn't the Department of Early Learning (DEL) the latest manifestation of daycare licensing put that vital information on their website, or their blog or their Facebook page?
Anyone remember Michael Milken? The Junk Bond king? He's been into the daycare business big time for quite some time. From an articles written by Kenneth J. Saltman in 2003:
"In the 1980s Michael Milken was sent to prison for his illicit financial dealings - fraud and insider trading. However, even his legal activities in the junk bond market were destructive to companies, to retirees, and to the general public. He was a major factor in the Savings and Loan collapse that cost the public billions. He invented the junk bond market and promoted its use in hostile corporate takeovers that destroyed businesses, labor unions, and job security while enriching a tiny corporate elite."
Also from his article:
"Wall Street considers the "early-childhood" market to be a $30 billion opportunity for corporations."
A convicted felon is a major mover and shaker in day care? That alone gives one pause as we consider who has our children during our working days.
So parents just looking for good day care for their children have a lot on their plates, then SEIU 925 entered the family home day care picture in 2006 in Washington State.
I looked at the SEIU Utube video they put out about their history. SEIU 925 began "working" the "home based" day cares in 1998. Their history video is filled with TV news reports on their low pay and high turn over rates. The video claims that one third of all providers leave the profession because of low pay. SEIU 925 does not cite any studies to back that up. The news reports show family home day care providers complaining about the low subsidy rates.
As a licensor when some of the day care providers complained to me about how their subsidy rates were lower than centers; and how unfair that was I researched the answer for them. Turned out the rates were set by the feds taking a phone survey of family home day care providers and day care centers. The family home day care providers were charging less than the centers that is why the home subsidies were lower.
The high quality family home day care providers on my caseload charged more and they always had waiting lists for families who wanted to use their services. These high quality providers were not interested in getting unionized and they weren't impressed at the meetings of that particular group of family home day care providers who wanted to "unionize".
Out of the 10,000 pot SEIU claimed fell under the family day care umbrella only about 2000 voted at all thus only a small percentage said yes to having a union; and the taxpayer got no vote at all even though it's their money that funds SEIU 925.
As far as the statement in the video that providers quit the profession because of low pay that is not accurate. In 2000, 2001 time period we had an economic downturn. I licensed folks who couldn't get any children to care for because of the economy. In addition, some folks do family home day care to be home with their own children. When their children hit school age they quit doing day care and did something else.
Almost every orientation class I taught for people looking at opening a day care, there would be one or two women who looked for day care and couldn't find one they'd put their children in so decided to open their own daycare to take care of their kids and help out another family or two; and be that high class quality day care home.
There are high quality and nurturing day care facilities out there; and parents can find them. It will take their critical thinking, problems solving, interviewing skills along with trusting their intuition to successfully find those folks.
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