More Children Getting Hurt at Non-Regulated Childcare Centers

Posted on Sep, 29 2010

Lately more children seem to be getting hurt at non-regulated childcare centers.  Most parents believe that all daycare providers are regulated by the State of Georgia, and that the employees of those facilities are subjected to criminal background checks.  While that is true of full-time regulated daycare facilities, it is often not the case with many health clubs and church “mother’s morning out” programs because they have filed for an exemption from this regulation.  The rule is that if the childcare facility is not caring for a child more than 4 hours in a particular day or 8 hours per week, then it is considered a “short term baby-sitting service.”   For a “mother’s morning out” program it can apply for exemption if it does not operate for more than 4 hours per day and not more than 2 days per week, limits attendance to no more than 8 hours per child per week. For example, if you are dropping off your child at the YMCA childcare facility or your local health club while you work out 3 or 4 times a week, the person caring for your child as well as the entire facility is likely not regulated by the State of Georgia.  The same may be true for your church program.  Why does this matter? It matters because the State has very particular rules about supervision, segregation of children of different ages, employee background checks and training, and safety requirements.  Non-regulated facilities are never inspected by the State whereas a regulated daycare is regularly inspected for compliance.  State compliance has one goal in mind: your child’s safety.  If the facility has an exemption on file, they are operating by whatever internal policies they have set for themselves.  Some have no policies at all.  Many have failed to apply for the exemption or are exceeding the scope of the exemption they received, which means they are operating as an illegal unregulated daycare.   If you want to know if the facility you are using is regulated by the State, contact Georgia Bright from the Start.  If your child has been hurt or abused in one of these facilities contact me, Matt Nasrallah.  There is no charge for the consultation.

Morgan Robertson, Keith Bodoh, and Matt Nasrallah are Marietta Ga lawyers serving the Marietta, Cobb County and Metro Atlanta areas. Visit our Daycare Abuse and Negligence, Daycare Abuse GA page for more information

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