CPSC Urges New Parents to Adopt Lifesaving Routine to Prevent Child

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Every day thousands of new parents assume the
responsibility of caring for and protecting a child. Many of these
first-time caregivers are unaware of the dangers of unintentional
poisonings often related to medicines and household products commonly
found in the home, such as personal care products, over-the-counter pain
relievers and cleaning substances.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Poison
Prevention Week Council are kicking off National Poison Prevention Week
(March 18-24) to educate and inform consumers of the dangers associated
with unintentional poisonings.

From 2002 through 2004, about 36 children younger than 5 died each year
as a result of ingesting poisonous substances found in and around the
home. In 2005 about 91,000 young children visited hospital emergency
rooms and more than one million calls were placed to poison control
centers as a result of unintentional poisoning.

"For most first-time parents and caregivers, poison prevention messaging
is new," said CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord. "It is an especially
important message to understand and act upon."

Young children are curious and use their home environment as a classroom
- a place to learn and explore. Exploring for younger children is often
done by mouthing objects which puts them at greater risk of
unintentional poisonings. For young children who are unable to read, a
bottle of orange-scented household cleaner may be mistaken for orange
juice; the medicine in the pill container can look a lot like small
candies; and baby oil, which can be deadly if ingested, can resemble a
clear drink.

To prevent these incidents, CPSC recommends the following safety steps:
1. Keep all household chemicals and medicines locked up, out of sight
and out of reach.
2. Use child-resistant packaging properly by closing the container
securely after each use. Some products also come in child-resistant
blister cards, which avoid the need to re-secure.
3. Call 800-222-1222 immediately in case of poisoning.
4. When products are in use, never let young children out of your sight,
even if you must take them along when answering the phone or doorbell.
5. Keep items in original containers.
6. Leave the original labels on all products, and read the label before
using to understand correct use and dosage.
7. Do not put decorative lamps and candles that contain lamp oil where
children can reach them. Lamp oil can be very toxic if ingested by young
children.
8. Always turn the light on when giving or taking medicine. Check the
dosage every time.
9. Avoid taking medicine in front of children. Refer to medicine as
"medicine," not "candy."
10. Clean out the medicine cabinet periodically and safely dispose of
unneeded and outdated medicines.

To request poison prevention publications, visit
www.poisonprevention.org
To get more information on CPSC and National Poison Prevention week,
please go to:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/pppa/ppw07.html

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting
the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more
than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction.
Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents
cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed
to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire,
electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The
CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys,
cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals -
contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of
deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30
years.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's
hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270, or
visit CPSC's web site at www.cpsc.gov/talk.html. To join a CPSC email
subscription list, please go to www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.asp. Consumers can
obtain this release and recall information at CPSC's Web site at
www.cpsc.gov.

State Childcare Rankings - How Did Your State Do?

The National Association of Childcare Resource and Referral Associations recently published their findings on how each state ranks regarding childcare standards and childcare oversight. Here's a summary of their findings. The full report can be read at http://www.naccrra.org/policy/scorecard.php


"Every week, nearly 12 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care setting. The children of working mothers spend an average of 36 hours each week in child care. Very simply, child care has become part of the daily routine for millions of American families. "

"The quality of child care is important because the health and safety of children are at stake and 90 percent of brain development occurs between birth and age five, which makes this time a critical period for child development. Yet, child care standards and oversight vary greatly by state. Given the importance of quality child care for children, the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) reviewed state child care center policies and regulations and ranked the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) based on key benchmarks to see how the states measured up. The results are shown on scorecards ranking state child care center standards, state child care oversight, and a combined score ranking states on both standards and oversight."

"State Rankings: NACCRRA found that the Department of Defense child care system stands alone as a model for states. The Department of Defense child care system ranked number one on the top 10 list of states with the best child care center standards and number one on the top 10 list of states with the best oversight practices. Other than DoD, no state appears on both top 10 lists. What does that mean? It is not enough to be moving in the right direction with strong child care standards if a state’s oversight system doesn’t measure up. Without adequate oversight, there is no way to evaluate whether state standards are actually being met. "

"There is much room for improvement by the states. The top 10 overall (combining scores for standards and monitoring) have a better system in place to ensure that the standards are enforced or that the actual settings comply with the standards as envisioned. But, even the top 10 states fall short of the 150 possible points to be earned by meeting each benchmark."

Top 10 Best Overall

DOD (Department of Defense)
Illinois
New York
Maryland
Washington
Oklahoma
Michigan
North Dakota
Tennessee
Minnesota
Vermont

For a full listing of states and how they scored on the report, go to http://www.naccrra.org/policy/scorecard.php

Keeping Track Of Recalls

As parents and childcare providers, you are surrounded with products and toys used by children. Did you know there's an easy way to keep updated on what products have been recalled? You can sign up through the Consumer Products Safety Commission to receive emails when recalls have been issued. Or, you can use their site as a resource if you have a question about a specific product.

The website is http://recalls.gov/. If you want to sign up for the email reminders, click on the 'sign up for emails' link on the left side. You can choose what categories you want information on, so you only get information that is ineresting to you.

Also, when you buy a major purchase like a car seat, make sure you fill out the registration card and send it in. You can leave all the questions blank, like whether you like to camp and whether you plan to buy a home. They use that information to sign you up for more junk mail. But make sure you give them your address. You'll get a card in the mail if your product is ever the subject of a recall.

National Provider Appreciation Day - May 11, 2007

Did you know that May 11, 2007 is National Provider Appreciation Day? Start planning now for how you as a parent can recognize your childcare provider, or how you as a childcare provider can celebrate you profession.

Check out the national website for a list of events that are going on in your area. http://www.providersfirst.com/events.html

Start planning now for how you can celebrate National Provider Appreciation Day!

Search Results Order Updated

We recently updated the process we use to determine what order providers show up in our search results. Providers who have updated their openings more recently will be given priority over those who have not updated their profile recently.

Our goal is to give parents accurate and up-to-date information. Parents are especially interested in whether a provider currently has an opening for the age group the parent needs. By revising our process, parents will now see those providers who are more likely to have a current opening, since their profile was updated recently.

The order in which providers show up still is not a judgement on the quality of care they provide. Determining where to place your child is a personal decision that only each individual parent can make.

Look For www.childcarematch.com coming soon!

We know that many providers prefer the term "childcare" over "daycare". To reflect this, we've been working on acquiring the website name www.childcarematch.com. We successfully acquired it at the end of the year.

We plan to have both daycarematch.com and childcarematch.com direct users to our current site. This way, no matter what term they use, a parent or provider can find our site. While providers may prefer the term childcare, it's been our discovery that the majority of parents still use the term daycare.


Thanks for using Daycarematch!
Scott & Melissa