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The daycare dilemma: How to find the best fit for your child

Lowcountry Parent - 8/30/2017

If the thought of leaving your new baby or toddler with a stranger all day gives you anxiety, you’re in good company.

According to Department of Labor statistics, as many as 70 percent of moms with children under age 18 work outside the home. With literally hundreds of child care options in the tri-county area - from in-home care, to traditional daycare, to Montessori schools - just where to leave your child can overwhelm even the calmest of new parents.

On top of different educational approaches, parents must also consider cost, convenience and quality. But with some research and a little bit of mother’s intuition, you can make sense of your options. Here we give Charleston-area parents the information they need to navigate the ever-changing childcare landscape.

In Charleston, there are generally two categories of child care facilities: those which offer childcare to infants and young toddlers, and those which welcome children ages 2 and up. Finding quality childcare for infants can be the most challenging - and the most expensive. In order to meet the demands of infants, staff to child ratios must be low. While South Carolina requires a minimum staff to infant ratio of one to five, the better (and most expensive) programs maintain a one to three ratio, which allows for increased one-on-one attention from staff.

Licensed daycare centers

Licensed daycare centers offer many benefits to working parents, including long hours to accommodate parents’ work schedules. Because daycare facilities serve many children, they tend to cost less than other options. Additionally, they are routinely visited by South Carolina’s Department of Social Services (DSS), who provide and assess minimum health and safety standards. While children in daycare centers will get plenty of playtime with their peers, allowing them to build socialization skills, they may also be more frequently exposed to illnesses at an early age.

Licensed daycare centers vary widely, but all must respect South Carolina teacher-to-student ratios. Some schools hire and train additional staff to improve on the state-mandated ratios. The increased staff allows for more one-on-one interaction between the teacher and child, but can also significantly increase tuition costs.

In-home care

Group homes provide care for 12 or fewer children, and they must also respect regulations enforced by DSS. Depending on the number of children in attendance, group homes must be registered at a minimum but can also be licensed with the state. Home-based childcare is often provided by a mother caring for other children alongside her own. Because in-home care accommodates fewer children, they may get less exposure to illness than in a large facility.

Faith-based centers

Child care services provided by religious organizations or churches are called faith-based centers. These facilities must be registered with DSS, which ensures the program meets state established safety and health standards. These programs sometimes provide less expensive childcare options to members of the religious organization or church, but may have family volunteering and engagement requirements in addition to tuition fees.

Licensing requirements

and assessments: no apples to apples comparison

Most childcare facilities in South Carolina are either licensed or registered with the state. All private, non-religious daycare centers must be licensed, while all faith-based centers and in-home care providers must be registered. Providers who care for children only on school holidays or for four hours or less per day are exempt from state requirements.

Though a provider’s status with the state is important, DSS warns that it is not always an indication of quality. Rather the licensing status merely demonstrates that the provider is in compliance with health and safety laws.

While all licensed and registered programs are inspected by DSS, those inspection records don’t shed light on a program’s quality. The inspections reveal violations of health and safety regulations, such as sanitation violations. But programs are given time to correct the issues and are rarely fined.

The difficulty for parents is that there is no one standard of assessment in the childcare world. DSS established a voluntary rating and improvement system for providers, called the ABC Quality program. The ABC rating assesses programs on criteria such as class size, teacher/student ratios and teacher training, ultimately assigning them a grade, ranging from a C (if a program provides ‘what you’d expect’) to an A+ (if a program is exceeds standards).

Because the ABC system is a voluntary program designed to help childcare providers improve, there are excellent programs which choose not to participate and therefore have no ABC ranking.

Some childcare programs have adopted higher standards than those required by the state. There are five Lowcountry schools which have become accredited by NAEYC, the National Association for Education of Young Children, a professional membership organization that works to promote high quality early education. Its member teachers must participate in regular professional development and programs and submit detailed curriculum plans, which reflect industry best practices.

Pricing and financial aid

There is no doubt about it, high quality child care is expensive, and financial aid is scarce. Though costs vary based on location and facility type, some of the most sought-after pre-schools cost more than $1,200 a month, sometimes offering a small discount for siblings enrolled at the same time. Faith-based centers tend to cost less and may offer scholarships based on need, as do some programs sponsored by the state. For those in greatest need, South Carolina has a vouchers program for parents whose income is below 150 percent of the federal poverty level based on family size.

The South Carolina Child Care Resource and Referral can help parents choose a childcare provider as well as determine whether a family is eligible for financial aid.

The application

process

When looking for infant care, many mothers begin applying for childcare during pregnancy. Because of the great demand for high quality early childhood education, some of the most sought after programs have long wait lists. At the O’Quinn Schools of Porter-Gaud, which offer pre-school beginning at age 2 on James Island and in Mount Pleasant, that wait can be nearly two years long.

“We suggest prospective parents submit a no-fee application after the birth of their child,” says Molly O’Toole, Director of the O’Quinn Schools. O’Toole explains that those applications are date-stamped and given priority over later applications. Like many other schools, at the O’Quinn Schools, priority is given to siblings of current families, past families, faculty and legacy families.

Mother knows best

Because of the lack of clarity when it comes to assessing child care program quality, the best way to determine if a program is right for you is to visit the facility. You may need to make an appointment to tour the center, but once there, observe the interactions between staff and children.

An in-person visit will give you an idea of what to expect if your own child enrolls. If you don’t like what you see, consider crossing the center off your list. You must be comfortable with the interactions between children and staff, and ideally, you want to see positive interactions between happy children and teachers. Make a list of questions to ask staff members, and if possible, other parents. LCP