Oklahoma Retains National Child Care Ranking in Latest Report

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma continues to remain a national leader when it comes to the regulation of the state’s family child care homes, according to a recently released report by a national child care advocacy group.
The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies ranked Oklahoma second overall for regulation of small family child care homes in its 2010 report, “Leaving Children to Chance: NACCRRA’s Ranking of State Standards and Oversight of Small Family Child Care Homes.”

Delaware narrowly edged Oklahoma for first place by a two point margin.

To compile the report, NACCRRA selected 14 key elements essential for quality small family child care homes. Each state was assessed and assigned points based on state policies and ranked based on their performance. The maximum number of points a state could receive is 140.

Oklahoma received a 108 score out of possible 140, or an equivalent of 77 percent. The average score was 63, or the equivalent of 45 percent.

“We are extremely proud of the hard work of our child care staff across the state,” said Lesli Blazer, director, Oklahoma Child Care Services. “We always strive to be a leader in child care and when your efforts are recognized on a national scale, this is a direct reflection on the quality of the work by our staff in the field.”

The top 10 scoring states were Delaware-110, Oklahoma-108, Washington-103, Massachusetts-101, the U.S. Dept. of Defense-96, Alabama-93, Maryland-88, the District of Columbia-86, Colorado-78 and Florida-76.

Among its strengths, Oklahoma was one of only nine states that met each of NACCRRA’s 10 requirements under both health and safety.

Another area cited where the state is a leader is that Oklahoma was one of only 13 states that require licensing to care for even one child. Other states require licensing to care for three, four, five, or more children. In South Dakota, licensing is only required when caring for 12 or more children. In some states, such as Louisiana, licensing is only voluntary.

However, one area where Oklahoma could improve was in the number of required annual monitoring visits. New Mexico and Tennessee require a minimum of four annual monitoring visits per year. Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nevada and Wyoming require a minimum of three annual monitoring visits per year.

“While this report is very encouraging, we will continue to review those areas where we can still improve,” Blazer said. “I know that as I congratulate our staff on this good news, tomorrow we will all go right back to work and continue to strive to be the best. Our mission is to ensure that Oklahoma parents have access to safe, quality and affordable child care and work continues to ensure that goal is fulfilled.”

"I extend a heartfelt congratulations to our staff in Oklahoma Child Care Services," said OKDHS Director Howard H. Hendrick. "Once again, they have emerged as a national leader in child care oversight. This would not be possible without the dedication of our staff in the state and our leadership within OCCS, including Lesli Blazer and her team in our state office."

"We'd also like to acknowledge the efforts of our child care providers, our community stakeholders and the work of the Child Care Advisory Committee, for their support and leadership," Blazer added.

The bottom 10 scoring states, each scoring zero, were New Jersey, South Dakota, Ohio, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Iowa, Indiana and Idaho.

In addition to the bottom 10, many states also scored zero, because they either do not license small family child care homes, do not conduct an inspection prior to issuing license or allow more than six children in the home before applying state regulations. This group includes Texas, Pennsylvania, Kansas, West Virginia, Montana, Georgia, South Carolina and Michigan.

Half of the states conduct no annual inspections, NACCRRA reported.

To read the report in its entirety, visit NACCRRA’s website (link opens in separate window). NACCRRA works with more than 700 state and local child care resource and referral agencies nationwide. These agencies help ensure that families have access to high-quality, affordable child care. To learn more about NACCRRA, visit their website (Link opens in separate window).

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