When you leave your child in short term day care, such as at your gym, how well do you vet the child care provider? A Massachusetts woman found out the hard way that there are many more dangers in short term child care when her daughter choked on a piece of candy left out in the room. There are also no real laws in place to govern short term child care facilities.
[W]hat she learned is that there are no laws to regulate day care at health clubs, and that all occasional and short-term child care is exempt from the high standards imposed on scheduled day care.
Matt Veno, communication director for the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, while praising the state’s "rigorous, nationally recognized licensing standards," suggests that parents who leave their children for short-term care log on to the EEC’s website www.eec.state.ma.us and click on "Tips on choosing child care."
Health clubs aren’t the only ones that get a pass. So do resorts, after-school programs, and play groups at churches and in supermarkets and malls – all the places where parents drop off their kids for an hour or two.
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