The Facts.
1 in 3 Kansas child care facilities are never  inspected.
In fact, child care providers that fall into the “registered” category are never inspected until it’s too late – when a complaint has been filed or a child has died in their care. With $5 and some paperwork, anyone can become a "registered" child care provider in Kansas.

The number of Kansas children who have died in child care has doubled since last year.
We know that twice as many Kansas children have died in child care this year compared to last year. In 2008, five deaths occurred in the state in child care facilities. As of today, that number has doubled for 2009 to 10 deaths.

Kansas is lagging behind when it comes to child care oversight.
In most other states, families can rely on a child care system with adequate checks and balances. But, that’s not the case for many Kansas families. In fact, we rank 47th in the nation when it comes to child care oversight. We can start bringing our child care system up to par with neighboring states by inspecting all Kansas child care facilities.

We already have a system in place for inspecting most facilities in Kansas.

Just as we inspect every restaurant and every beauty salon in Kansas, we need to inspect every child care facility. The system is already in place and is being utilized to inspect about 5,000 of the 7,500 child care providers in the state. It’s time to inspect the rest.

 
A quality child care system is critical to keeping Kansans in the workforce.
As our state continues to weather a tough economy, it’s critical that we keep Kansans in the workforce and earning a paycheck. But, one of the biggest hurdles for working families is finding child care they can trust. With across-the-board inspections, families will have some peace of mind that their children are being cared for in a safe environment during the work day.

Young Lives Lost.
Over the years, deaths have occurred in child care facilities in all parts of the state. The three counties that have experienced the highest number of child care deaths (between 2007-2009) include:

· Johnson County - 6 deaths

· Sedgwick County - 10 deaths

· Shawnee County - 2 deaths

Child care deaths have also occurred since 2007 in Clay, Crawford, Finney, Ford,
Leavenworth, Lincoln, Lyon, Marion, Reno, Ottawa and Wyandotte counties.