Daycare providers, parents face off with county
November 23, 2010 at 4:45 pm in Worthington Daily Globe
WORTHINGTON In a meeting that grew heated at times as angry parents and discouraged daycare providers faced off against Nobles County Human Services officials Tuesday night in Worthington, it appeared as though little progress was made in finding a reasonable solution to a change in the issuance of variance requests. Continue Reading
Government gone bad. I hope the county commissioners will stand up and reject the family service ideas. At least the voters can get rid of the commissioners when their decisions dont work for the community. To bad public employees dont have the same accountability to the population they work for.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Both Names and Child Services Supervisor Beth Mahoney, who have been in their positions for less than a year, said they came from counties where variances did not exceed 30 days. When they realized Nobles County did not have such a policy in place, they began working on one. Both admitted they did not realize it would create such an uproar among providers and parents.—–I agree with beans. Sounds like these two are implementing ideas that don’t work for our county. I like the idea of easing into the new rules and give parents time to adjust. I hope the commissioners will be helpful and use common sense.
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In reading this article the one thing that is glaringly apparent is that the two individuals in charge at family services are horribly out of touch with what is going on in Nobles County. Pipestone county is a significantly smaller county population wise and what works for them, may not work for Nobles County. To just come up with such a major change without consulting the providers association shows poor management skills and a power trip mentality. “I am in charge and this is how it is going to be” is not a mentality that works when dealing with the public and an issue as important as your family. In yesterday’s paper they stated there were plenty of openings for infants. Why don’t they publish that list and then tell people exactly how many of those on that list will take infants. I am sure there are not many. Makes you wonder if the sharing of a director for family services is such a good idea. The commissioners may want to think long and hard about that.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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It is interesting that people are willing to run the odds on having their kids cared for. Weighing which is more dangerous, to have an over-burdened daycare provider or driving on the roads. Do you find your daycare provider the same way government bids jobs? Low bid and find someone who is willing to do it the cheapest? Most of the time it gets the job done, but when things go bad, and usually it ends in some (avoidable) tragedy the same critics want someone in government to complain to, blame and question why there was no regulation law or policy to limit how many and how often exceptions are made that could have this result. “This is how we’ve always done it” policies, do not make it right. Do what is best for the kids.
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We are NOT willing to “take odds” when it comes to the care of our children. As parents and daycare providers we want what is best for our children. The providers who are asking for these variances are not overburdened and would not be asking for the variance if they did not feel they could provide for the children the would be taking care of. As a parent I do not take my children to the “cheapest” daycare,. nor do I want to travel a long distance in then winter with small children. Also my children cannot be with my husband and I during the day due to work so I feel they should at least be able to be together. I am extremely happy with my current daycare provider. I as a parent have had a bad experience with a daycare have learned from it. Daycare providers and the parents are a family. We all want to keep our children safe. Infant daycare is extremely hard to find. In researching the last week through childcare resource and referral there were 2 openings in Worthington. 1 of which was incorrect and the other is being held for a set of multiples. I believe there somewhere around 40 babies to be born in the month of December. Where are they all to go? Most of us do not object to a policy change, we would have liked to have been informed of the change and would like to make suggestions for the policy change. I hope family services is willing to work together with providers and parents to make a policy which would work for Nobles county.. I feel the providers history, years of experience and some parent interviews and homes visits would be part of this policy.
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On most days an experienced daycare provider can care for several children very skillfully, and those that have a good daycare provider can testify to that. It is however that there needs to be standards (policy and procedures) to cover the few that may not. Any parent knows what can happen when caring for your own children in a span of a few preoccupied moments. And, normally the parent has acclimated themselves to the number of children that they have for several months or years. Add several or even just a few more, that you may not know as well to the mix. The nature and manner of care for the different ages require different supervision levels and general care. Answering one issue of allowing daycare providers to continue to take on more children may resolve the shortage of providers, but is shortsighted in ultimate purpose of the policy in ensuring that the risks of the increased workload are reduced.
I think for those that have the ability to do daycare to begin with have a genuine gift that not everyone has. I think that if you took any person, working any job, and gave them one, or even two small children or infants to care for at the same time while they complete their work that something will give. And, the smaller and younger they are, the more care and time they take. You may be able to take 6 year old twins in to work, but try it with newborn twins or 2 or 3 infants. It is unfortunate that most of this discussion has to do with money. It takes away from the ability of providers that can handle the workload to make more, and it burdens parents that are working out of the home to search and scramble and travel farther to even find a provider while trying to make ends meet. Good luck all. I hope a reasonable resolution can come soon.
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