Many excellent child care facilities are available. When choosing a child care provider, be sure to contact your state agency for children’s welfare. Many state agencies have written guidelines for families who are in the process of selecting child care. Another great resource to check is Family Watchdog. Family Watchdog allows you to seach a national database for sexual offenders by name or address.

Some questions to consider when choosing care for your child:

• Safety & Health
  
• Is the center/home safety proofed for children?
  
• Is the equipment in good condition, corners covered, and shelves fastened to the walls and does the indoor/outdoor environment appear to have safety in mind for children?
  
• Does the child care conduct fire drills?
• What types of food served at meal or snack time?
• Are the staff certified in CPR or first aid?
  
• Staff
• Ask the director about the turnover rate of teachers at the center. You want stability for your child and a low turnover rate probably means that the staff enjoys working there.  If you decide to visit the center, ask the teachers how long they have been at that site.
  
• Does the environment seem friendly?
  
• Do the teachers/staff smile and greet you and your child?
  
• Do the teachers answer children’s question and respond to them respectfully?
  
• When the teachers are outdoors are they interacting with the children, are they watching the children or talking with another teacher?
  
• Activities
  
• Does the home/center have an area for blocks, music and movement, art and dramatic play?
  
• Is there a posted weekly schedule of activities for you to view what your child is doing?
  
• Are the activities developmentally age appropriate?
  
• Specifically, do the activities encourage children to develop fine-motor, gross-motor, eye-hand coordination, language, social skills, intellectual and visual skills, etc?
  
• Be sure to ask if there is television time (don’t need) or activities that are too difficult and are more appropriate for school age children.
  
• Philosophy
• What type of discipline policy do the child care providers use?
  
• Is the discipline positive where the child will learn from their mistake?