‘Crossroads for Child Care’

Another tragedy at an unlicensed day-care facility points out the need for more teeth in our licensing of day-care facilities (“Toddler Dies, 2 Injured in Pool at Unlicensed Tustin Day-Care Center,” Part I, April 1). Cease-and-desist orders are more like a request and mean nothing until a child is seriously injured or dies. The Department of Social Services works with day-care facilities that have applied for a license, are taking in children but yet like the Tustin day-care center may have serious and dangerous problems at the facility. How many parents have felt safe leaving their children at a facility where they are told the license has been applied for, and think this means that it is just a matter of paper work, and not that it means the facility may have violations that need to be corrected before a license is awarded?

The state Legislature needs to close these loopholes. Perhaps a facility should have no children attending until a license is issued, not just applied for. Or once an application is made, the facility should be subjected to surprise inspections, with violations corrected in 14 days. Licensing inspection sheets should be required by law to be posted at a prominent place so parents can be aware of any problems, big or small, and exert pressure on the owner to correct these problems immediately. Uncorrected problems should result in parents being called to take their children home.

But most important, parents need to have more knowledge about licensing regulations, so they can easily spot problems at day-care facilities.

CHERYL A. HARLOW

Altadena