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Maine, like much of the nation, is facing a child care crisis. The number of providers statewide has decreased by 23 percent in the past decade, a drop that has been particularly acute in rural areas. Waiting lists, particularly for infant care, can stretch for years. The business model is a precarious one, with providers struggling to afford operating costs and parents struggling to afford care.
Choosing a child care provider (if you're lucky enough to have a choice) can be tricky. Should it be in-home or at a dedicated facility? Self-directed or cognitive-based? Is it within budget and a reasonable commute? And, of course, the most important consideration: is it a safe place for my child to spend their days?
To help answer that question, The Maine Monitor and the Center for Public Integrity spent months reading thousands of pages of handwritten inspection reports and licensing records. While the reports are posted online, they are not easily comparable, so we built our own database and analyzed it for patterns. We obtained additional records from the state. Then we spoke with numerous providers, experts and lawmakers about the system and what we learned.
Many of the results are heartening: the vast majority of providers had few safety violations or none at all.
Others are more troubling. Some providers have been repeatedly cited by the state for health and safety violations stretching back years: dog feces in play areas, providers losing children and not realizing they were gone, piles of garbage so high they blocked exits and firearms waved in front of children, among others.
Parents and guardians deserve to know how their children are being cared for. We hope this story brings them some insight.
— Kate |
