When you go to meet the providers of the daycare facility that you’re debating sending your child to, it’s important that you ask them some poignant questions. These should include questions about how the facility is run, how the staff is background checked and what safety measures are taken to ensure that the children are safe at all times.
The following list will give you an idea of the kinds of questions you should ask. These questions will let you determine whether or not the facility takes safety seriously and what they do to ensure that the children are not put in situations where they are likely to be abused. Here are some questions to consider:
- Are the classroom doors opaque or can you see through them?
- How often do you have fire drills?
- How many sources do you use for background checking employees?
- What identification do you require when people visit the facility?
- Do you have surveillance cameras set up and who monitors them?
- Are there places where children can be isolated?
- How frequently is the facility cleaned and by whom?
- How many children are each of the workers responsible for?
- How many childcare workers is each supervisor in charge of?
- How much employee turnover do you have?
- How much training do you require of your staff?
- Do you provide additional training for your staff?
Asking these types of questions is not putting the daycare provider on the spot. In fact, just as is the case with schoolteachers who deal with parents who are very involved with their child’s education, the administrators will generally be very glad that you take that much interest in your child’s safety. At a good facility, the workers are generally people who very much enjoy children and who care for them a great deal. The same applies to the administration.
Be sure you do investigate any facility thoroughly before you start paying tuition and have your child spend their time there during the day. If you should end up in a situation where your child is the victim of daycare child abuse or negligence, you should contact a daycare abuse lawyer. Even if there are criminal charges involved, the abuse lawyer can make sure that you get an opportunity to file a lawsuit and, possibly, to recover damages for your child’s pain and suffering and for the financial damage that has been done to your family as a result of the abuse.