Health & Safety in Child Care

THE BASICS
Health and safety is the most basic requirement for licensed child care. It is also every parent's biggest concern. Health and safety information changes often, as experts learn more and offer better methods. That's why OKDHS requires child care providers to take annual training in order to keep their licenses.

NUTRITION
Nutrition is so important to young, growing bodies and minds. The federal Child and Adult Food Program (CACFP) reimburses licensed providers for meals under certain conditions. Its goal is to make sure that children in care get nutritious meals. For more information, go to http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Care/CACFP/aboutcacfp.htm.

For Child Care Centers: In Oklahoma the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Child Nutrition Program division works directly with child care centers on CACFP. Their Oklahoma City phone number is 405-521-3327.

For Child Care Homes: To get money from CACFP, child care homes must have a sponsoring organization. There are about 15 sponsoring organizations across the state, including the Resource & Referral agencies in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Bartlesville, and Ponca City areas. For a current list of other sponsoring organizations, please call the child nutrition program directly, at 405-521-3327.

MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS
A healthy environment also means nurturing and including children of immigrants. Hispanic immigrants make up the fastest growing ethnic group in Oklahoma. To learn more about serving this group, you can download our PowerPoint presentation about Understanding Latinos

For personal assistance, please contact Keila Garcia, Hispanic Services Coordinator, at the Oklahoma Child Care Resource & Referral Association (405) 942-4179 (outside Oklahoma City, call 1-888-962-2772). You may also email her at: kgarcia@oklahomachildcare.org

INFORMATION ON THE WEB:
One of the best web sites for health and safety information is at http://nrc.uchsc.edu/ To find regulations for Oklahoma, just click on our state in the map, then choose the type of care setting you provide.

To see recent changes to health and safety guidelines, go to: http://nrc.uchsc.edu/CFOC/updates.htm

This web site also contains a section just for child care providers that lists a number of resources for improving the quality and safety of their programs: http://nrc.uchsc.edu/providers.htm

For an updated list of product recalls on toys and child care equipment, please see http://www.childproductsafety.com/

HEALTH CARE CONSULTANTS
In some parts of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Child Care Resource & Referral Association has contracted with registered nurses to serve as health care consultants for child care centers. These consultants help centers by:

• Arranging for immunizations
• Referring children for needed health care
• Teaching adults and children about hygiene
• Giving parents information
• Helping providers develop and implement sound policies and procedures for health and safety in their facilities

In other words, these health care consultants help child care facilities to do more than meet the minimum standards.

If your child care program is in the Oklahoma City or Tulsa area, contact your local Resource & Referral agency for more information. If you are not located in those areas, you may contact your county health department to find out what type of health care consultations they can provide.