It wasn't too long ago when most moms stayed home to care for their young kids, but times have drastically changed. Today about 66 percent of infants and pre-school children are cared for by paid care givers.

The cry of child can startle us like the cry of a fire engine... but for Kasey Thursby, fire engines now remind her of 4-year-old Grace Chen's death at a Tallahassee daycare center where she was left behind during a fire evacuation in July. Thursby didn't know Grace but has two little girls of her own in day care.

"I definitely wanted to re-evaluate where I was as a parent and making sure that I didn't overlook safety measures at my girls' day care," explains Thursby.

Thursby says since Grace Chen's death, she's realized that the greatest safety measures don't eliminate human error.

Dr. Pamela Phelps agrees. Phelps is a child care consultant and has owned Creative Preschool for 35 years. She says safety and quality of child care boil down to people.

Phelps says, "The deal is the ratio of adult to child throughout the day and the knowledge of those people."

Phelps says the maximum adult to child ratio in Florida are set too high.
Infants have the lowest ratio with a 4 to 1 ratio... but three year olds jump to 15 to one and four year olds to 20 to one.

The Florida Department of Children and Families enforces these ratios and all other child care regulations.
Deborah Russo SOT AT:
"We make sure they have the correct paperwork in place to show that they have the appropriate training credentials. We look at background screening to make sure that they have completed the background screening appropriately and timely. We look at fire inspections. We look at environmental health inspections," says Deborah Russo with Florida Department of Children and Families.

DCF coordinates with law enforcement when major problems arise or when tragedy strikes... like in the case of Grace Chen's death at Stepping Stone Day Care. DCF can also shut down a child care business if it consistently fails to comply, and perhaps strong oversight by DCF can give parents like Kasi Thursby some peace of mind.

You you check out child care provider inspection records at the DCF website at www.myflorida.com/childcare, and you can look at area child care options at the Early Learning Coalition website at www.elcbigbend.org.