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DALE BRAZAO/TORONTO STAR Klara Solodar, who runs an apparently illegal daycare centre, gestures at Star reporters who knocked on her door for comment. She bit one of them. 
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Tag on Delicious But critics says data available isn't detailed enough to help parents make good child-care choicesAug 16, 2007 04:30 AM Robert Cribb Dale Brazao Staff ReportersOntario parents anxious to know about conditions inside their children's daycare can now access provincial inspection results on the Internet ? among the first such public disclosures of child-care quality records in Canada. While child-care experts hailed the initiative as a promising first step, they say much more detailed information ? such as specifics on serious occurrences and staff training levels ? is needed to help parents make informed choices about who to entrust with the care of their children. Prompted by a recent Star investigation into troubling incidents in Ontario daycares, the provincial Ministry of Children and Youth Services will launch a public website today detailing safety concerns discovered by provincial inspectors.Minister Mary Anne Chambers said yesterday that more detailed information on child-care centres could be added to the site based on feedback from the public."Our objective is transparency and accountability. ... My ministry was under a lot of pressure to get this out as quickly as possible. I felt that if we waited until everything was perfect and comprehensive, it would take much longer." The Star's in-depth series revealed how children in provincially licensed daycares have been hit, kicked, allowed to play in filthy conditions and fed allergy-triggering food that nearly claimed their lives ? information that had never before been made public. The new website contains information on each of the province's 4,486 licensed child-care centres, including whether it operates with restrictions on its licence, a list of any specific terms and conditions and whether it holds a so-called "provisional" licence, indicating the centre is not meeting minimum provincial standards. The Star investigation showed daycares can operate for months or even years on a provisional licence without meeting basic requirements. There were 494 provisional licences issued to child-care centres across Ontario between January 2000 and January 2007. Currently, 69 centres hold provisional licenses.The Star series was based on provincial inspection records, serious occurrence reports and public complaints obtained following a two-year battle under freedom of information laws. A day after the series was published in June, a storm of protest from the public and opposition politicians led Chambers to announce her ministry would publish the data online.The information is posted at www.children.gov.on.ca.While such disclosure is common in many U.S. jurisdictions, most Canadian parents have not had easy access to what many view to be essential public information. Until now, parents in Ontario had to file formal freedom of information requests ? a costly and time-consuming process ? to get even basic information on what provincial inspectors discovered on visits to their daycare.Ontario now joins Manitoba in publishing child-care licensing information online. Ana Patil, who is pregnant with her second child, says she welcomes the province's initiative but is adopting a wait-and-see attitude on whether the information posted on the website will help her decide who cares for her newborn child."My main concern is how they treat kids," said Patil, a human resources manager. "My concerns are mainly about the quality of food, allergies and whether there is any kind of harassment."While child-care experts welcome increased public scrutiny around daycare quality, they say the province should go further in helping parents make informed decisions about where they place their children. In Florida, for example, parents are able to view actual online inspection reports for each daycare centre detailing every finding of non-compliance in plain language. "When I walked into the facility, I observed nine school-age children playing in the room with no adult supervision," reads one recent Florida inspection report. "A toxic substance was accessible to children."That level of detail is not available on the Ontario site, which summarizes ministry reports. For example, a Toronto child-care centre with a provisional licence is told to develop an allergy policy without detailing what led to the order. The site also fails to include other information that would be useful to parents trying to make an informed choice, such as staff training levels.The City of Toronto's Children's Services department is planning to launch its own website by the end of the year that will take daycare disclosure a step further, assigning grades between 1 and 4 for performance on such issues as health and safety, staff and child interactions, learning and physical environment. "(The provincial site) doesn't tell you anything about quality of the program ? just whether it meets the basic requirements," says Petr Varmuza, director of operational effectiveness for Toronto Children's Services. "We're looking to go beyond that."Andrea Calver, a director with the Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare, an advocacy group representing not-for-profit daycares in the province, says that while added transparency from the province is useful, a key piece of information is missing ? whether the centre is for-profit or not-for-profit. Research has shown that while there are excellent for-profit centres, not-for-profit child care tends to produce a higher overall level of care.评论
回复: Website exposes dodgy daycares这个女人面相好凶，就算不曝光，我也绝不会把孩子送到这样面相的人开的day care去的。
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