KDHE Home - News 2002 - News Release
Kansas
Department of Health & Environment
Bill Graves, Governor
Clyde D. Graeber, Secretary
For Immediate Release
November 22, 2002
Contact: Sharon Watson, 785-296-5795
Recent articles in the Hays Daily News accuse the Kansas Department of Health and Environment of being too harsh on child care providers in the area. Similar accusations against the county led the county health department to recently stop handling child care inspections for the state. And now, sadly the accusations have become personal toward a responsible KDHE child care specialist, Cheryl Hutchinson.
"Verbal attacks on the inspection process are not a move toward protecting the children of Kansas," said Clyde D. Graeber, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
KDHE is responsible for ensuring Kansas children's safety in the state's day cares, and Cheryl has worked hard to ensure the child care providers in the area understand the state regulations. She has worked successfully with the county health inspector as part of the increased KDHE training. Better knowledge of what to look for during inspections has led to some additional non-compliance citations, very few of which involved fines.
"Our primary responsibility is to the children of Kansas, not to the providers," Graeber said. "We try to work with the providers as partners, but our first concern has to be for the children."
KDHE is required by statute to oversee the regulation of child care facilities and homes. The regulations currently in place were adopted after extensive public comment and input across the state. Child care providers agree to meet these regulations when they apply for a license.
"State regulations are designed to keep children in a safe and healthy environment," said Chris Ross-Baze, Director of the KDHE Bureau of Child Care Licensing and Regulation. "While such requirements as providing towels in the restroom for each child, providing soap for hand washing, flushing the toilet, and keeping the dishes washed, may seem minor, they are part of the overall healthy and safe environment that every parent expects from their child care provider. Furthermore, when put together they can indicate a lack of sufficient care for the well-being of the children."
KDHE's inspectors and contract inspectors are trained to work with providers by giving
them information about the regulations and reminding them of areas where improvements are needed.
"If a child care provider receives a notice of non-compliance, it does not mean the daycare is a bad place for children, but rather it simply means there were issues discovered on the day of the inspection that need to be addressed for a safe and healthy environment," noted Ross-Baze.
KDHE has worked diligently to improve child care standards in the state in recent years and has hired field specialists to help make the process uniform throughout the state. It's important that child care providers, parents, KDHE, and other child care partners in the community work together to ensure safe and healthy child care settings for all Kansas children.