Quality in the Early Years - moccrrn.org · • Support quality in diverse child care arrangements that meet the needs of working families. • Ensure minimum standards for all child

Quality in the Early YearsA Public Policy PlAtform

Missouri Child Care Aware

Across Missouri, more than 280,000 children under age five and almost 73,000 youngsters ages

five to 14 spend a portion of their week in the care of someone other than their parentsi because their

parents are working, earning a living and contributing to the state tax base.

According to the midwest child care research consortium, 63% of child careii and early learning

programs in Missouri are of mediocre to poor qualityiii.

These poor and mediocre programs provide the majority of young children’s preparation for success in

school and life. On average, younger children spend about 36 hours per week in non-parental careiv,

with many spending as many as 60 hours per week in these substandard environments.

Child care and early education are essential supports to the Missouri workforce, and these program

must be high quality to ensure a strong state economy.

Child Care in Missouri

1 Public Policy Platform

Connecting families: Individualized referrals by phone or online, facilitated by specialists with intimate knowledge of the local child care and early learning programs.

Improving quality: Workshops, onsite coaching of teachers and administrators, and scholarships for higher education coursework.

Community collaboration: Data analysis on supply and demand, systems planning support, connections to national thought leaders.

MO Child Care Aware (formerly MOCCRRN) has a three-part mission:• Connect families to child care and early

learning programs

• Improve the quality of those programs

• Collaborate with business and civic leaders

to make child care safe and enriching for children

What Do Parents Want?The December 2008 national telephone surveyvi of 1,000 parents of young children found that quality and affordability were their two biggest concerns. Nearly unanimously, parents support common sense improvements to strengthen the quality of child care.

• 96 percent supported comprehensive back-ground checks, including federal and state fingerprint checks, for child care personnel before they begin working with children

• 93 percent thought that health and safety standards for child care should be improved

• 95 percent supported requiring inspections of child care programs

• 92 percent agreed that required training for child care personnel should include classes in child development, first aid and CPR, child guidance and discipline, and recognition of the signs of child abuse.

Almost three quarters of these parents favored public funding to make child care more affordable. 70 percent were willing to pay an extra $10 per year in taxes to make that possible. These parents may not be aware that, currently in Missouri, their tax dollars help low-income families pay for child care that is completely unregulated.

2Public Policy Platform

Poll on PArent beliefsv

87 percent thought all child care personnel were trained to recognize signs of child abuse

85 percent thought all child care personnel were trained in first-aid and CPR

84 percent believed that all child care personnel must have a background check

81 percent believed that state government licenses all child care programs

78 percent believed that child care personnel had training in child development before working with children

missouri child cAre licensing rules

no member of the child care workforce is required to have this training

no members of the child care workforce are required to have this training

Personnel must pass state-level child abuse / neglect screenings and checks for criminal / sex offender backgrounds. Crimes committed in other states will not be detected.

Thousands of child care programs in Missouri are minimAlly regulAted or not regulAted at all

Missouri requires no training at all before working with children

PArent beliefs vs. missouri reAlity

This large bi-partisan majority of voters supported high quality programs being made available on a voluntary basis to parents of children from birth to age five, and 73 percent of those with children under age six believed that access to pre-k programs is extremely or very importantvii.

The MO Child Care Aware public policy agenda is founded upon these and other data on the status of child care and early learning programs in Missouri, and on what parents believe and want for their childrenviii. This platform has been reviewed by children’s advocacy organizations, professional associations for the child care and early learning workforce, and parents from Missouri. This document has been formally adopted by the directors of the eight local child care resource and referral agencies that comprise the MO Child Care Aware network, as well as by the MO Child Care Aware Board of Directors.

In general, MO Child Care Aware supports public and private policies that:

• Support quality in diverse child care arrangements that meet the needs of working families.

• Ensure minimum standards for all child care and early learning settings.

• Require appropriate oversight of those standards, to protect children’s safety, health and development.

• Ensure adequate pre-service screening and training of all adults who care for and educate children.

• Provide incentives and resources to motivate all child care and early learning programs to achieve higher levels of quality.

• Provide financial assistance with the cost of child care to families with lower incomes.

• Ensure a high-functioning and inclusive system of child care and early education statewide.


This platform has been reviewed by• Association for the Education of Young Children of Missouri• Citizens for Missouri’s Children• Francis Institute for Child and Youth Development• Metropolitan Council on Early Learning (MCEL)• Missouri AfterSchool Network• Missouri Head Start-State Collaboration Office• Missouri School Age Community Coalition• MU Center for Family Policy and Research• Partnership for Children• University of Missouri-Kansas City Institute

for Human Development• Vision for Children at Risk

Achieve Higher QualityAccording to a December 2008 poll, roughly four-fifths of Missouri voters (both parties and

statewide) were proponents of early childhood education programs, with this issue tied with

K-12 education in importance.

Quality in Diverse SettingsParents and other family members are the first and most important caregivers and teachers in

children’s lives. Some working parents rely on each other, in alternating shifts; others on grandparents

or other relatives in the extended family. Working parents without these options may leave their

children in the care of friends or neighbors. Many Missouri children arrive at the kindergarten door after

five years in the care of family, friends and neighbors.

About 35 percentix of children have extensive experience in “formal” group care and education programs, including Head Start, family child care, child care centers and preschools. Many children, starting at six weeks of age, spend 10 hours of every week day in organized child care or early learning programs under diverse auspices: corporate fran-chises; small, locally-owned family businesses; nonprofit social service agencies; micro-businesses in individual’s homes; public or private K-12 schools; and churches or temples.

After kindergarten entry, children of employed parents may continue to be cared for and educated in any of these settings before and after the school day. The families of about 97,000 Missouri children must navigate a complex arrangement of multiple settings to ensure their children are safe throughout their work hours.

Regardless of where children are, with their parents or with others, they—and society at large—deserve the best chance at their optimal development in healthy and safe environments.

MO Child Care Aware supports policies that:

• Help families and other caregivers provide for the basic nutrition, health and safety of children, including providing nutritious meals, access to health care and lead and asbestos abatement in older buildings.

• Support families in providing the best quality early learning opportunities for their children, including programs in which families can choose to receive child development and parenting consultation from a professional who comes to their homes.

• Provide family, friend and neighbor caregivers with access to information on child development and early learning.

• Make high quality child care and early learning options universally accessible and affordable.

• Maintain high-quality, coordinated supports for professional development, quality improvement and consumer education, including child care resource and referral services statewide.



Minimum Standards and OversightWhen relatives, friends or neighbors provide care for children other than their own, they often do

so as part of family or community support. Churches or temples may provide child care as a ministry.

In these circumstances, no fee is charged, services may be traded or bartered within a neighborhood

or community of friends, or a family member is given a modest payment for their time. In such

arrangements, government regulation and oversight of quality have no place, though wise public

policy will provide these families and faith communities with informational and educational supports.

But when parents pay someone other than a family member for child care or early learning services, they should be assured of a safe and secure environment for their children. Just as government assures consumers safety in the homes they purchase and the food they eat, it must be responsible for assuring consumers find safety in the programs that care for and educate children. Indeed, government already has a significant role in assuring this minimal level of quality in education settings for children from kindergarten through high school.

And standards without oversight are meaningless. Without regular inspections, compliance with standards cannot be assured. Regular inspections of child care and early learning programs not only assure children’s health and safety, but also provide guidance for quality improvements to those who provide these paid services to consumer parents.


• Require compliance with basic health and safety standards, including smoke free environments and approved emergency/disaster-preparedness plans, in all settings in which child care is provided for a fee for any unrelated child.

• Require quarterly unannounced visits or inspections of all such regulated programs.

• Require that all personnel in these programs have a comprehensive background check, including federal and state fingerprint checks.

• Require all personnel in these programs to complete and maintain the recommended renewal of certification in infant/child CPR and first aid.

• Require that all personnel in these programs have specific training in the recognition and reporting of child abuse and neglect.

• Promote transparency in state child care licensing practices, and provide parents with access to inspection results and substantiated complaints, both through the Internet and in paper records at regional offices.


Pre-Service EducationThe publication of the first research on how early experiences affect brain development ended the

belief that child care and early learning programs are “just babysitting.” During their first five years of

life, children’s brains are being built, one neural connection at a time.

The quality of their experiences shapes their future success in education from kindergarten through college, in relationships, and in adult employment. Therefore, those non-family members who provide these early experiences must be educated in, at minimum, the basics of child development and how to support it. Missouri law requires those who provide haircuts, manicures and tattoos to complete hundreds of hours of training prior to serving the public, but not one single hour of training is required for those who, along with the parents, are the architects of young children’s brains.


• Require all personnel in state-regulated programs who have program-related contact with children to complete 40 hours of pre-service training, including content in child development, curriculum, and observational assessment.

• Maintain high-quality, coordinated supports for professional development, including child care resource and referral services statewide.

Motivate Programs to Achieve Higher QualityThe quality of child care and early education programs has measurable, significant effects on

children’s development and their readiness for school and later life.

When facilities and equipment are designed with care, when classroom personnel have sufficient skills and knowledge, and when other aspects of quality are maintained in management and family involvement, the result is a high quality environment that meets the developmental needs of each child. Children in programs with inadequately-educated teachers, unskilled directors, and poorly equipped classrooms may spend their days in purposeless activity and interpersonal conflict. Poor quality programs have been shown, in numerous studies, to produce delays in language development and poor development of social skills.


• Provide incentives for the continuous improvement of quality, as objectively measured across all the aspects of program personnel, content and management.

• Ensure a continuum of professional development opportunities for the child care and early learning workforce, including high-quality training connected to on-site technical assistance, as well as higher education.

• Enable financial assistance for the upgrade of facilities and equipment to meet higher standards of quality.

• Maintain high-quality, coordinated supports for professional development, quality improvement and consumer education, including child care resource and referral services statewide.



Provide Financial Assistance with the Cost of Child CareNobody who owns a child care business is getting rich. Yet, the cost of child care and early education

is high for many parents. Child care and early education services are human resource-intensive, with

ratios of adults to children governed by state rules. Even with wages at or slightly above the minimum

wage, two classroom staff for every eight infants creates a high overhead to cover with parent tuition.

Thus, the average cost of child care for an infant and preschooler could be more than $12,000 in a

metropolitan area, or 19 percent of the state median income of $63,847 for a four-person family.

If the two parents in that family were both earning the state minimum wage in full-time jobs, this average child care cost would consume more than 40 percent of their gross household income. Even in a rural area of the state, where prices are much lower, the average annual cost of $8,215 for an infant and preschooler would eat up 28 percent of the gross household income from two minimum wage earners. Choosing lower-priced child care also often means choosing lower quality. When that happens in a family with low income, then these children, who are most at-risk and need the highest quality, instead receive the worst quality.

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF, also known as CCDBG) allocates funds to states to be used for this kind of financial assistance. The funding from the federal government was frozen from 2002 through 2008, and is expected to be reauthorized before 2012 at what advocates hope will be a much higher level. Still, Missouri will have to provide matching funds from a state revenue source if all the families who need this financial assistance are to receive it. This block grant provides financial assistance for low-income families, paying fees directly to their child care or early learning program.


• Ensure that Missouri’s Child Care Financial Assistance program serves all families at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

• Provide for a gradual transition off of this subsidy program, with decreasing levels of support up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level.

• Reimburse child care and early learning programs at the 80th percentile of the market rate in their areax.

• Maintain high-quality, coordinated supports for consumer education, including child care resource and referral services statewide.

Quality in Child Care and Early Learning ProgramsHigh quality programs for young children—whether child

care or preschool—and before/after school programs for

older children and youth do not look like classrooms

typically found in K-12 schools. Young children learn best

in open-ended, stimulating play, and quality youth

development programs outside the school day offer

more than an opportunity to complete school work.

Both settings are often highly interactive and tailored

to children’s special interests. Professional teachers in

these settings serve as a guide or facilitator as children

learn through engagement with the real world.


Outcomes and goals established by the state’s Early Childhood Comprehensive System plan, and the strategic plan of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Early Childhood can create the state infrastruc-ture that enables programs for children and youth to provide safe and healthy environments, and to engage young children as the active learners they are. Parents need affordable programs they trust for these outcomes, so they can earn the livings that support their families’ well being. To achieve these ends, the state needs public policies and adequate investments that enable and support safe, quality, affordable child care and early education programs.

Just as important are policies and investments that support the infrastructure organizations around those programs. Child care resource and referral services, provided by MO Child Care Aware, ensure that these programs have access to quality improvement supports and professional development for their staff. Families also receive the support they need from MO Child Care Aware: assistance in locating the best program for their children, consumer education about making the best choice, information on child development and community resources, and other assistance with the challenging job of parenting in the 21st Century.

Build the SystemMissouri needs a system of child care and early learning that develops quality in all settings, and

supports children as they grow and learn in preparation for later schooling and success as adults.

Quality in Child Care and Early Learning ProgramsHigh quality programs for young children—whether child

care or preschool—and before/after school programs for

older children and youth do not look like classrooms

typically found in K-12 schools. Young children learn best

in open-ended, stimulating play, and quality youth

development programs outside the school day offer

more than an opportunity to complete school work.

Both settings are often highly interactive and tailored

to children’s special interests. Professional teachers in

these settings serve as a guide or facilitator as children

learn through engagement with the real world.

Endnotesi These estimates were calculated by multiplying the number of children in Missouri from the 2000 Census, taken from the web on July 7, 2009 from Table DP-1 Profile of General Demographic Characteristics for Missouri, at http://censtats.census.gov/data/MO/04029.pdf, by the percentage of children in Midwestern states who were in the care of someone other than a parent in Who’s Minding the Kids Table 1A, Child Care Arrangements, taken from the web on July 7, 2009 at http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/child/table-2006/tab01A.xls.

ii Throughout this platform, the term “child care” refers to programs for young children before kindergarten entry, and those programs that serve older children and youth before and after school.

iii Raikes, H., Wilcox, B., Peterson, C., Hegland, S., Atwater, J., Summers, J., Thornburg, K., Torquati, J., Edwards, C., & Raikes, A. (2003). Child care quality and workforce characteristics in four Midwestern states. Omaha: The Gallup Organization.

iv Johnson, J.O. (2005). Who’s minding the kids? Child care arrangements: Winter 2002. Washington, DC: U. S. Census Bureau. Taken from the web on July 7, 2009 at http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p70-101.pdf.

v National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. 2009. Parents’ Perceptions of Child Care in the United

States: NACCRRA’s National Parent Poll. Washington, DC: NACCRRA.

vi National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. 2009. Parents’ Perceptions of Child Care in the United States: NACCRRA’s National Parent Poll. Washington, DC: NACCRRA.

vii Garin Hart Yang Research Group. 2008. Early childhood education in Missouri: Key findings from a survey among 603 voters statewide. Commissioned by the Missouri Coalition for School Readiness.

viii The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies has conducted focus groups with parents, and surveyed parents and grandparents, state child care administrators, and personnel in state and local child care resource and referral agencies across the country, and published these findings over the past several years.

ix Johnson, J.O. (2005). Who’s minding the kids? Child care arrangements: Winter 2002. Washington, DC: U. S. Census Bureau. Taken from the web on July 7, 2009 at http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p70-101.pdf.

x This percentile rate would enable parents to access 80 percent of the programs in their area.


1000 Executive Parkway Drive Suite 103St. Louis, Missouri 63141phone: (314) 535-1458fax: (314) 754-0330www.childcareaware-mo.org

of MissouriMissouri’s most trusted child care resource.

Quality in the Early Years - moccrrn.org · • Support quality in diverse child care arrangements that meet the needs of working families. • Ensure minimum standards for all child

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