Child-care facilities will have new rules on sleep environments for infants, video screen time allowed for youngsters and professional development mandates for providers.
Gov. Mary Fallin has signed the child-care licensing requirements for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, effective Jan. 1. The changes affect licensed centers, day camps, drop-in centers, after-school care programs, part-day programs and programs for sick children.
The revisions in the licensing requirements clarify or change rules pertaining to professional development, parent communication, health and safety, infant sleep environments, screen time limitations and emergency preparedness.
This comes after a process that included public hearings in May and October 2012. The proposal came from a revision committee representing child-care programs, state health and fire officials and partner agencies with child-care programs. It was reviewed by the Child Care Advisory Committee, which advises DHS on licensing requirements.
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The process for the new standards could be a national model, stated Doug Gibson, interim chief operating officer at Sunbeam Family Services and former interim chief executive officer at the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, in a written statement.
“These are probably the most carefully thought-out and most inclusive set of child-care revisions I’ve ever seen,” Gibson stated. “The committee undertook the most comprehensive and far-reaching set of child care standards I’ve ever observed. This was a very comprehensive look at not only how to protect children but how to provide them with a positive learning environment as well as how to give child-care professionals practical tools and tips to achieve those goals.
“The process and program have proven to be a model to the rest of the country for being fair, firm and having a consistent approach to developing policies and procedures for child care.”
One of the changes is based on information from the American Academy of Pediatrics about restrictions on infant swaddling. Blankets for infants will be prohibited. DHS will provide facilities with infant sleep sacks to help with this transition.
The committees were balancing realistic expectations for providers and best practices for child safety and growth, said Karen Manwell, program coordinator for the Early Care and Education Program at the Eastern Oklahoma County Technology Center in Choctaw. She serves on the committee and has been working in the child-care industry for 26 years.
“When the changes were being proposed, we always came back to the question, ‘What’s best for Oklahoma’s children?’ We always have to go back to that,” Manwell said in a written statement. “No one wants to increase the work any provider has to do, but we all have to do what’s best for the children in our state; we have to find a way to provide the best care that we can for children.
“This was an exhaustive, diligent, three-year process; no decision was made without very strong rationale behind it. We listened to providers, health professionals, advocates and experts in order to come up with what we believe are the most comprehensive and clear set of standards we can use to protect the health and safety of children in child care throughout Oklahoma.”
Oklahoma has about 3,825 child-care programs providing care to about 131,150 children a day.
