Child-care bill raises perception concerns

Only homes caring for seven or more children need to be licensed.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Cindee Volpe is all for stricter standards for home child-care.

But the operator of Fae-Fae’s Little Feet in Canton worries that an upcoming legislative debate over mandatory licensing of small, private providers may unwittingly hurt the reputation of all in-home child care businesses.

“I’m all for the bill,” said Volpe, whose business cares for 16 children. “But it may lead people to believe that all home day cares aren’t inspected and aren’t licensed, and that’s not true.”

In Ohio, all larger in-home day cares — those caring for seven or more children — are required to have a state license. Today, 193 such businesses, including Volpe’s, have such licenses. The limit is 12 children at a time in such centers, and Volpe said she and her partner share duties and stagger shifts to always meet that threshold.

Standards at smaller in-home day cares watching six children or fewer are more hit and miss. That’s the situation the bill hopes to address.

The measure is sponsored by a pair of Republican lawmakers, state Sen. Steve Stivers and state Rep. Jon Peterson, and backed by day-care providers, educators and referral agencies. It would extend state licensing requirements to all in-home providers caring for three children or more.

Type B homes

Dennis Evans, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said many of the smaller operations — called Type B homes in state lingo — already opt to become county-certified in order to qualify for public child-care subsidies.

The roughly 10,000 Type B homes around the state have often undergone the same rigorous inspection regimen and training that a state licensed one does. But not always.

“They [the counties] have very similar guidelines, but different counties might have different requirements,” Evans said. “It’s not a uniform requirement around the state.”

That is something else the bill hopes to address.

Not licensed

The legislation’s biggest target, however, are the estimated 15,000 to 20,000 in-home day-care operations around the state that are neither state licensed nor county certified. While many are safe and healthy, others are run by child-care providers who lack basic safety skills and live in settings hazardous for young children.

Evans said there is no way for officials to know how many of the centers are meeting basic health and safety standards because they have no reporting requirements.

Volpe, like other providers, said she supports the bill because boosting standards across the industry will ultimately help everyone. But she doesn’t want parents to see reports of Ohio’s lax licensure standards and misunderstand. Only four states have more liberal licensing requirements.

“There might be a young, very energetic person who’s decided not to get certified for whatever reason who’s an excellent provider. So certification isn’t everything,” she said. “Parents just need to check out that situation thoroughly before deciding where to place their child.”

Evans said the state provides the public with child-care information on all licensed and certified day-care providers on its Web site.