Caring for our Children,
National Health and Safety Performance Standards
Standards are mainly for day care or "out of home care," but good for home use.
Quotes below are about consistent caregivers.
Related references are about Attachment Theory.
Links for Reactive Attachment Disorder are in Psychiatry section of this website.
http://nrc.uchsc.edu/CFOC/PDFVersion/Na ... ndards.pdf
STANDARD 2.010
PERSONAL CAREGIVER
RELATIONSHIPS FOR INFANTS AND
TODDLERS
Opportunities shall be provided for each child to
develop a personal and affectionate relationship
with, and attachment to, that child’s parents and
one or a small number of caregivers whose care
for and responsiveness to the child ensure relief of
distress, experiences of comfort and stimulation,
and satisfaction of the need for a personal relationship.
The facility shall limit the number of caregivers
who interact with any one infant to no more
than three caregivers in a given day and no more
than five caregivers across the period that the child
is an infant in child care. The caregivers shall:
a) Hold and comfort children who are upset;
b) Engage in social interchanges such as smiling,
talking, touching, singing, and eating;
c) Be play partners as well as protectors;
d) Attune to children’s feelings and reflect them
back.
RATIONALE: Trustworthy adults who give of themselves
as they provide care and learning experiences
play a key role in a child's development as an active,
self-knowing, self-respecting, thinking, feeling, and
loving person (9). Limiting the number of adults with
whom an infant interacts fosters reciprocal understanding
of communication cues that are unique to
each child. This leads to a sense of trust of the adult
by the infant that the infant’s needs will be understood
and met promptly (88, 89). Studies of infant
behavior show that infants have difficulty forming
trusting relationships in settings where many adults
interact with a child, e.g., in hospitalization of infants
when shifts of adults provide care. This difficulty
occurs even if each of the many adults are very caring
in their interaction with the child. Assigning a consistent
caregiver to an eight-hour shift in such settings
has been observed to help. This limits the number of
different adults with whom the child interacts in a
three to 24-hour period (90, 91).
88. Kassidy J, Shaver, P, eds. Handbook of Attachment:
Theory, Research and Clinical Applications. New York, NY:
Guilford Press, 1999: 671-687.
89. Provence, S, Lipton, R. Infants in Institutions. New
York, NY: International Universities Press, 1962: 55-
128.
90. Solnit, AJ. Aggression: a view of theory building in
psychoanalysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association 1972; 20:3.
91. Gopnik, A, Meltzoff, AN, Kuhl, PK. The Scientist in
the Crib: Minds, Brains, and How Children Learn. New
York, NY: William Morrow and Co., 1999: 49, 202.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STANDARD 2.014
PERSONAL CAREGIVER
RELATIONSHIPS FOR
3- TO 5-YEAR-OLDS
Facilities shall provide opportunities for each child
to build long-term, trusting relationships with a
few caring caregivers by limiting the number of
adults the facility permits to care for any one child
in child care to a maximum of 8 adults in a given
year and no more than 3 in a day.
RATIONALE: Children learn best from adults who
know and respect them; who act as guides, facilitators,
and supporters of a rich learning environment;
and with whom they have established a trusting relationship
(20, 21). When the facility allows too many
adults to be involved in the child’s care, the child does
not develop a reciprocal, sustained, responsive,
trusting relationship with any of them.
Children should have continuous friendly and trusting
relationships with several caregivers who are
reasonably consistent within the child care facility.
Young children can extract from these relationships a
sense of themselves with a capacity for forming
trusting relationships and self-esteem. Relationships
are fragmented by rapid staff turnover or if the child is
frequently moved from one child care facility to
another.
COMMENTS: Compliance should be measured by
staff and parent interviews. Turnover of staff lowers
the quality of the facility. High quality facilities maintain
low turnover through their wage policies, training
and support for staff (22).
20. Rodd, J. Understanding Young Children’s Behavior: A
Guide for Early Childhood Professionals. New York, NY:
Teacher’s College Press; 1996.
21. Greenberg, P. Character Development: Encouraging
Self-esteem & Self-discipline in Infants, Toddlers and Two-
Year-Olds. Washington, DC: National Association for
the Education of Young Children; 1991.
22. Whitebook M, Bellm D. Taking on Turnover: An
Action Guide for Child Care Center Teachers and Directors.
Washington, DC: Center for the Child Care Workforce;
1998.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(I was a substitute in day care centers, where substitutes were sometimes used as "temps." In Virginia, the last 30-day employer is liable for Unemployment Compensation, so we were not allowed to work more than 29 days in some centers.
One time I was placed with non-verbal 2-yr-old children, who I had never seen before, in a room I had never been in before, alone for 1 1/2 hrs, with about a week or two of experience in this age group. Some wore diapers, some went potty but had diapers. Diapers are brought from home, so must match the child. At this age, a daily report is supposed to be filled out on eating, sleeping and changing. I had hardly done this, as a substitute, only if I was alone during nap time when ratios are doubled, I recorded a diaper change. It occurred to me later that there may have been pictures of the children inside the clipboard case, attached to their files.
When the other girl came, I asked who I was replacing. I had learned to anticipate this. There was a regular person in the morning. I asked who was the regular person in the afternoon. She said, "I NEVER KNOW WHO THEY ARE GOING TO SEND ME."
I LITERALLY FLIPPED.
In the afternoon, I worked with a floater who had a hard time trying to remember the kids names. The daily reports didn't get filled out and the parents were mad.
I became so blitzed out on behalf of these children that I acted unprofessionally the next day -- I measured the room with a tape measure because the staff complained that there were 22 children in the room, and there are square footage ratio requirements. The two regular teachers flipped, told the owner, who happened to be having teacher consultations that day, in anticipation of hiring a new director.
Several days later I received word that I wouldn't be working there any more. This owner had been on TV about square footage regulations when the legislature was in session, opposing stricter rules. He told me he was upset that the other workers learned about the issue of square footage (After he was on TV about it!)
The center was supposed to be accredited, but not by NAEYC, National Association for the Education of the Young Child, the best accreditating organization. NAEYC policy is for staff to actively monitor and report licensing violations.
There was a legitimate reason for me to know square footage, even as a substitute. In early morning, groups are combined until the next staff arrives, and there is danger of overcrowding with a substitute, who is reluctant to divide the group and go to another room with total strangers, with nobody in the office.
Playground time has to be strictly scheduled for some centers, because the area may be small, and two groups would be out of ratio forsquare-footage outside.
In late afternoon, groups are combined, perhaps inside or out.
When I had worked there previously in another room, I ended up on the playground at the end of the day, when staff take turns leaving the kids outside and going in to clean for about 20 minutes. As the groups get smaller, they combine, and we ended up with 2 substitues who didn't know the names of any of the children, with kids being picked up by parents we had never seen, trying to count the children on 3 or 4 clipboards. We had no idea when we could physically combine the groups outside into one playground area, because occupancy limits are not posted outside, and I have only seen it posted on rare occasions inside.
I had measured the playground first, with the help of the children. Teachers who knew me well at a private school I used to work at would have thought nothing of this. I was always bringing in unusual things for the children to do, and so were the other teachers.
We were even told by the agency to take activities to a center every day, even if you are a floater in 5 different rooms, with 5 different ages, and there was one coat hook for 3 staff members, and absolutely no counter space, out of reach of toddlers, for your personal tote bag.
And even if the lead teacher already had the whole day planned and didn't want the stuff you planned, and even if you are alone in a roomful of 4-yr-olds, where 3 children give you their name wrong, and don't match the names on the clipboard or cubbies, and you can't count them on the playground because they are mixed in with 2 other groups. And where you have to send 12 kids to potty before going outside and you can't remember who has gone and who hasn't.
Anyway, I said all that to explain why I found out about attachment theory. I had to research inconsistent caregivers, which led to multiple caregivers, which led to attachment disorder. This experience made me passionate about "attachments."
It made such a profound impression on the that I am here day after day researching for others who have been affected by the situations of the children they are attached to.