Following up on an earlier post, I want to highlight today’s Missoulian editorial – which calls for basic improvements to Montana’s child care regulation and oversight. Particularly, in-home providers should be getting visits from state inspectors before they get their licenses. Anyone who works with young children – and especially children too young to understand or verbalize incidents that risk their health and well-being – should be subject to a comprehensive background check.

These changes won’t solve every problem, but they will get us started in the right direction.

P.S. There’s also a business story in today’s Missoulian about Kim Ormsby, who was named Montana Entrepreneur of the Year for her Natural Baby Company. In just a few short years, her Bozeman-based business has gone gangbusters and is now selling about 4,000 cloth diapers A MONTH to moms around the world. Missoula Mom wrote about her here.

- MM

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Smokejumper camp. Equestrian camp. Writing camp.

Math, filmmaking, art, gardening – you name it, there’s a camp for it in western Montana. And I should know, having spent ALL DAY earlier this week combing through the Missoulian’s exhaustive guide to summer camps. We’re talking more than 14,000 words, all aimed at helping parents choose a fantastic summer camp experience for their kids.

But oh, how to choose! Ballet camp? Soccer camp? Fishing camp? One thing’s for sure – if your child has a particular interest in a particular camp, you will want to snag a guide right away to make sure you secure a spot.  Availability is sure to shrink down fast once this guide hits the streets!

Look for the guide – it’ll be hard to miss – in Thursday’s newspaper.

- MM

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Tristan Scott’s story about Montana’s poor rating (as in, scoring zero out of 140 points) when it comes to oversight of child care facilities in this state was certainly an eye-opener for me. I realize that my family has been blessed to find child care providers who went above and beyond the minimal requirements.

That much has been apparent since I first began the search for an in-home day care that would best meet my daughter’s needs more than four years ago. I got a list of providers from Child Care Resources, drove by most of them, called only a few and visited only two in person. The personal visits were enough to convince me which place was perfect for my little girl – but a few of the drive-bys left me wondering how desperate some parents must be for child care.

In any case, as CCR’s Kelly Rosenleaf notes in the story, regardless of how comfortable you are with your current child care provider, it’s important to have that talk about privacy and appropriate touching with your child.

I think it’s also clear that some changes need to be made in Montana’s system of child care regulation. With a “zero” score, we’ve really got nowhere to go but up.

- MM

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On Saturday, tomorrow, Child Care Resources is hosting its 3rd annual Parade of Child Care Providers. Seven “high-quality child care facilities” in Missoula will be open for visiting from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The parade is timely for two reasons: One, school is going to be letting out for the summer very soon, and a lot of parents need to start lining up child care arrangements now. Second, Missoulian reporter Tristan Scott informed me yesterday that he’s working on a story about child care regulation and oversight. Watch for it in an upcoming edition of the Missoulian!

For information and a map of the child care tour, go to http://www.missoula.com/childcare/.

- MM

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I’m sure every parent who has a child in day care shuddered to learn about the arrest of Albert Elmer Gaub, a 70-year-old married man, for allegedly raping a 4-year-old girl who attended his wife’s day care.  

One of my “Facebook friends,” Child Care Resources of Missoula, posted this in response to the news: “We are devistated to learn of the (alleged) sexual abuse of a child in the care of Albert Gaub, owner/operator of Cuddles and More child care facility in Missoula. The actions or a courageous child and her loving parents helped this child and protected other children. We applaud the rapid (i)ntervention by the QAD, Child Care Licensor who acted quickly to obtain the voluntary relinquishment of the license.”

Child Care Resources keeps a pretty comprehensive list of all the child care businesses in the area, and in addition to referral services, they provide great information about how to find a provider that matches your family’s needs.

While it’s likely that no amount of research into Cuddles and More could have prevented this tragedy, thorough research may at least help other parents prevent problems with child care providers in the future.

If I were to hold on to some positive speck of hope arising out of this otherwise ugly and devestating event, it would be the hope that every parent who trusts another with their child’s care would take the time to contact Child Care Resources and find out what sort of background information is available.

- MM

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The last time I had to look for day-care for my daughter was more than two years ago, but still I shudder to remember some of the outfits I checked out before we found her current provider. Some places were just too “institutional,” some were homey but filthy, and some of the employees (and in particular some employees who looked young enough to need looking after themselves) were too inattentive for my taste. If I could have rated the worst of these places, they would have gotten minus points.

And if I could rate the day care where my daughter is playing as I write this, it would be off the charts.

It is such a struggle to find a day care program and people you can feel comfortable leaving your kids with. They spend so much time there, every day, that you want the people your child spends all that time with to reinforce your own parenting style – but that’s a luxury for parents who are scrambling to find an empty slot anywhere so they can keep their jobs.

Thus I have high hopes for this new state system. Missoulian State Bureau reporter Jennifer McKee writes that next year Montana will launch a voluntary program, called STARS to Quality, that would rate child care programs and make that information available to the public. And it would help enrolled programs get more money to continue their stellar work, and even make some improvements.

“The economics of early childhood programs has long been a problem,” McKee writes. “Despite the costs – early childhood programs for two children in most Montana communities easily top $1,100 a month – teachers and caregivers typically earn low wages and owners often struggle to break even.”

If I were to nit-pick a good thing, though, it would be the fact that the evaluation will be done by trained state professionals – which certainly makes sense. However, I would also love to see parents’ opinions taken into account in some way as well. They’re the ones with first-hand (OK, second-hand; their kids have first-hand) experience with these programs day in and day out.

That said, I expect this rating system will come to play a huge role in Montana parents’ child care decisions.

- MM

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On Monday and Wednesday nights, on a first-call, first-serve basis, the Parenting Place offers free child care for parents who just need a couple of hours to themselves.

The child care is available to anyone, but of course you can’t just drop your kid off unannounced. First you have to call (the number is 728-KIDS) and make an appointment to fill out the usual child-care paperwork and answer some basic questions about your kids and how you plan to use your time. You’ll also be asked to pledge not to spend your kid-free time to use drugs or alchohol.

That’s because the Parenting Place is a community-based nonprofit dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect. According to its Web site, it aims to “help families develop healthy parent-child relationships, to improve the futures of our children and ensure healthy families.”

It’s been filling this role in the community since 1981, and today offers parenting classes and children’s programs and more.

Child’s Play is its name for the free child care – plus dinner! – offered twice weekly. Once you’ve filled out the paperwork and gone through the interview, you’re good to go. However, Lindsay Davis, the children’s program coordinator, warns that the slots fill quickly.

“The kicker is, it fills up really really fast,” she says.

The Parenting Place can accept a maximum of only 15 kids per night. They have to be under the age of 12, and no more than three can be under the age of 18 months.

Davis says not to be discouraged if you can’t get in on the first try. The Parenting Place has an awesome office manager, she says, who can help you figure out how to make sure you can get your kids’ names on that list when you need that night out.

Most parents, she added, use the time to enjoy a kid-free dinner, or run errands. Sounds simple enough, but sometimes that’s all it takes to drastically reduce stress and recharge.

The Parenting Place is located at 1644 S. 8th St. Again, the number to call to find out more is 728-KIDS.

- MM

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I’m playing catch-up again, hoping to get ’round to posting about all the interesting news articles I’ve been reading lately. Since it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, I’ll just post a few of the more interesting, recent articles.

First, the good news: More Missoula schools met No Child Left Behind Act standards last go-around.

Then, the bad news: This will come as no surprise to anyone who has looked for child care in this state, but “Montana’s child care system has serious flaws.” This story, I believe, is the result of state bureau reporter Jennifer McKee’s recent search for day-care stories.

And don’t miss this story about Mountain Home in Missoula. It’s a lovely, heartbreaking, hopeful glimpse into the lives of some young local mothers struggling to build a better life for their children and themselves. If you’re moved enough to want to take action, note that Mountain Home is currently looking for volunteers to serve as board members.

- Missoula Mom

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Missoulian State Bureau reporter – and mom – Jennifer McKee is currently investigating and planning to write a story on a subject of particular interest to Missoula Mom: child care.

From the sketch McKee’s drawn for me, it promises to be a fascinating article. It would be more fascinating still if some readers of this blog were willing to share their stories. For starters, I know some of you recently underwent the harrowing experience of trying to find a new day care after it looked like the Growing Place was going to close (that was before the YMCA agreed to take it over).

So I hope you’re willing to take a minute to contact McKee. She can be reached at (406) 447-4069 or at jennifer.mckee@lee.net.

- Missoula Mom

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Following is the text of a news release that was sitting in my inbox this morning. I have to admit, my first thought after reading the headline was that our politicians were taking name-calling to a whole new level. So I was relieved to read on and learn that they are not actually launching new caucus for congressional babies.

Here’s the release:

Rehberg, DeLauro Launch Congressional Baby Caucus

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Denny Rehberg (R-MT) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) launched the Congressional Baby Caucus at a briefing focused on the challenges faced by infants and toddlers in military families, highlighting how public policy can support their healthy development.

The Congressional Baby Caucus aims to ensure that public policy reflects the latest research in understanding how children’s brains are shaped and developed, how positive behaviors can be encouraged, and how investments in early childhood create success in later years, as well as that families are supported with what they need to take advantage of the scientific advances.

“Recent scientific studies on young children and their families have demonstrated that there is a disconnect between what we know is good for America’s children and families versus what we as a country do about it,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “For this reason, Congressman Rehberg and I founded the Congressional Baby Caucus, which will champion efforts to identify and promote policies that take advantage of these scientific studies in a thoughtful manner to ensure the affect of policies on infants and toddlers is not an after-thought. Our goal is to focus on the opportunities for Congress to use science to dramatically improve the public policy opportunities for children in this country.”

There are 332,771 children ages 0–3 of Active Duty members. The physical separation from a parent due to deployment can be a loss in itself. Trauma, grief and loss experienced by families of Service members who have been injured or killed, or are experiencing combat?related stress and/or illness, may further challenge the ability to maintain the healthy parental relationships which are essential to young children’s development.

“The first years of life are crucial for a child’s development,” said Rehberg. “The educational, nutritional and emotional nurturing that they receive during these years forms a foundation that will guide the course of their lives. It is crucial that policy makers accept our role in ensuring that every American child grows up in a safe and healthy environment with the resources they need to grow into strong, productive adults. I am proud to be a founding member and co-chairman of this caucus. I have enjoyed working with Rep. DeLauro on issues like Country of Origin Labeling, and look forward to partnering with her to develop bi-partisan solutions to the challenges facing infants, toddlers, and their families.”

More than 30 bipartisan members of the Caucus will be champions for awareness and early investment – promoting that which is best for children, from the get-go, rather than have the effect of policies on infants and toddlers as afterthoughts. The Caucus will focus on a broad range of areas, including nutrition and basic needs for babies; the effects of trauma; federal programs: existing programs like Head Start and Child Care Development Block Grant – how well they are serving infants and toddlers.

# # #

- Missoula Mom

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