Oklahoma Child Care Home Oversight Ranked First in Nation

OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- Oklahoma is ranked first in the nation for state standards and oversight of family child care homes according to a report card issued by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
Oklahoma is the only state that meets 75 percent of the basic requirements needed to ensure children are in care that safeguards their health and safety and promotes development and learning, NACCRRA officials said in a statement.

“Oklahoma’s standards and oversight are the cumulative result of more than 40 years of work and dedication by former and current leadership within the Oklahoma Legislature, Child Care Advisory Committee, OKDHS and various other agencies and individuals dedicated to protecting children as they pursue a high quality early education experience,” said Mark Lewis, director, OKDHS Child Care Services. “The child care licensing specialists are where oversight and standards meet. Their dedication, knowledge and balanced use of authority and consultation are the keys to successful implementation. Without our licensing specialists, the standards and oversight could not be effective.”

“Most impressive about this report is that Oklahoma ranked above the U.S. Department of Defense,” said OKDHS Director Howard H. Hendrick. “Historically, the Defense Department has represented the gold standard of child care.”

NACCRRA, a child care advocacy group based in Washington D.C., works with child care resource and referral agencies in each state to help ensure access to quality child care and to improve child care standards across the country.

The report ranked every state, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Department of Defense on 14 different standards focused on ensuring the health, safety and well-being of children while in home-based child care programs serving 6 or fewer children.

The top 10 consisted of Oklahoma, Washington, Massachusetts, the U.S. Department of Defense, Alabama, District of Columbia, Maryland, South Carolina, Colorado and Connecticut.

With approximately 3,200 family child care homes, those child care providers comprise the largest portion of Oklahoma’s 5,100 child care facilities. The standards examined by NACCRRA included frequency and type of monitoring visits; requirement of background checks, provider education, provider training, parent-provider communication/education, quality of learning environment; availability of learning activities and literacy opportunities; group size limitations; and health and safety requirements.

According to the report, 15 states scored a 0 because they either do not license small family child care homes, do not conduct an inspection prior to issuing a license, or allow more than 6 children in the home before applying state regulations.

“In addition to requiring an inspection prior to issuing a license, Oklahoma requires a minimum of three unannounced monitoring visits per year,” Lewis noted. “In contrast, Iowa requires visits once every 5 years and Michigan once every 10 years.”

While the report noted Oklahoma’s long list of strengths, it also pointed out areas where the state could further strengthen its standards, such as in national fingerprint checks and staff to child ratios for children under the age of 24 months.

“While we are pleased to receive this national recognition, we should also recognize there is room for improvement as we strive to keep Oklahoma a leader in early childhood care and education,” Lewis said.

“We will continue to look for ways to improve,” Hendrick agreed. “This report is a good overall assessment of where we are and the work we need to do to continue to get better.”

In March 2006, NACCRRA issued a report that ranked Oklahoma third in the nation for providing quality child care oversight in child care centers. 
For the complete report, visit NACCRRA’s Web site at http://www.naccrra.org.

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