[Vision2020] End of Legislative Session Summary from Rep. Trail

[Paul Rumelhart]

Why are the people who are applying for jobs paying for the background 
check?  It's in the day care's best interest to do these checks, they 
should pay for them.

I'm of the opinion that this is an area where special cautions should be 
taken, as the risk of possible problems is large.  My logic goes like 
this: there are people who are drawn to young children, sexually,  
against their better judgment and in a way that they often can't 
control.  Much of the time, these people have already had a lapse of 
propriety and have been convicted of a crime as a result.  It seems 
downright irresponsible not to perform a check for those situations when 
hiring day care workers.

I'm not advocating that these people never be able to work again, but 
this seems like the responsible thing to do.

What am I missing?

Paul

Donovan Arnold wrote:
> I am sure there are differences between the work I do with the elderly 
> and disabled, and that of child care, but I imagine there are many 
> similarities.
>  
> My first complaint about background checks is that they really aren't 
> background checks. They just check to make sure someone doesn't have 
> a conviction as a sex offender, which is pretty easy to check without 
> paying the $45 fee.
>  
> My second complaint is that more often than not, it is a huge 
> financial burden for people making $7 an hour to pay $45 for every day 
> care center they apply for and having to wait one to two weeks for 
> approval before they can start working. When you make $7 an hour, it 
> is difficult to afford that burden, it was for me.
>  
> 3) This is a massive intrusion and expansion of government  with with 
> no indication that it is needed. The assumption here, and I think a 
> false one, is that it will improve the safety and well being of the 
> children by having a series of regulations to tie the hands of the 
> child care providers. There are already a large of laws and 
> regulations on the books.
>  
> Having worked in the nursing home environment, I can tell how self 
> contradicting and harmful over regulation from the government can be. 
> I trust child care providers over the government lawyers and 
> regulators that probably have never seen the inside of a daycare, much 
> less worked in one. From personal experience with the Moscow Day Care 
> and UI's Daycare centers, I can tell you they are excellent places to 
> place your children if you can get in, and they didn't need government 
> over regulation to get that way.
>  
> No doubt, we may someday need to expand government's role in raising 
> children. But as long as parents are still doing a good job, we 
> shouldn't invite the government in to fix something that isn't yet 
> broken.
>  
> Best Regards,
>  
> Donovan
>  
>
>
> */Angie Doe <moscowresident at gmail.com>/* wrote:
>
>     >   9.  Does Idaho need to tighten its day-care regulations?
>      
>     I am a bit disappointed in the answer that has been provided to
>     this question.  It leads me to believe that people have a
>     extremely limited idea of what actually occurs in daycare.
>      
>     I absolutely believe that day care regulations need to be tightened. 
>     More importantly, the current regulations need to be observed and
>     enforced regularly.
>      
>     c. The Department shall obtain a criminal history check on only
>     those applicants, 
>
>     owners, operators, employees or volunteers who have direct contact
>     with the 
>
>     children in care and on all other individuals twelve (12) years of
>     age or older who 
>
>     have unsupervised direct contact with children in care.
>      
>     I have worked in Moscow daycare and only one has ever required a
>     background check, the UI.
>      
>     08. all family day care homes
>
>     caring  for six (6) or fewer children are not required to have a
>     basic day care license or 
>
>     certification.
>     So as long as you have 6 or less kids, you can do whatever you
>     want with whoever you want.  Does that seem like a good idea?
>      
>     If you read our regulations you will see that the only things it
>     discusses is health inspection, fire inspection, and background
>     checks.  My experience is that the fire and health inspections
>     only take place at the beginning of a center opening and are not
>     repeated on regular intervals.  Also, they are not taking into
>     consideration what CHILD DEVELOPMENT professionals consider safe. 
>     Infants can be playing with Lego's and that is not the safety they
>     are looking at.  We already know background checks aren't happening.
>      
>     There is a lot that can be done to ensure better environments in
>     child-care centers.  One thing would be to have somewhat frequent
>     surprise inspections to see if the environment is safe and if
>     there is appropriate staff that has records of their background
>     checks.  *But the first* * would be to put together a board of
>     Child Care experts and listen to what they have to say!!  *They
>     have been talking a lot lately and no one is listening.
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