A group of child-care agencies would like to remind the public that success in life starts early, long before kindergarten.
"It's not like at age 5 or 6 the ability to learn switches on," Lynette Rasmussen, director of the state Office of Child Care, said Friday after announcing a public information campaign to raise awareness of the role caretaking plays in a child's success in school and life. "Good child care is a lot more than baby-sitting. It's a lot more than making sure a child is physically OK at the end of the day."
The Office of Child Care and the Utah Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies say the "Care About Child Care" campaign is needed to encourage parents to make sure their children are getting the best quality of care they can.
"So much more emphasis is being placed on school readiness," Rasmussen said. "Getting quality child care that prepares children socially and intellectually is more important than ever."
The last census and state research show that 300,000 Utah children under age 12 have both parents working or live with a single working parent. Nearly 60 percent of all Utah children under age 13 have both parents, or a single parent, employed full- or part-time.
The need is compounded not only by a critical lack of professional child-care slots but by the fact that the child-care work force in Utah is generally undertrained and significantly underpaid, according to a six-month study released in September.
About 2,590 new child-care worker positions will be needed to support Utah's economy by 2005, according to the Office of Child Care. Average hourly wages for preschool classroom teachers in Utah range from a low of $6.81 per hour to a high of $8.67. Only one in four full-time, day-care staff members have health insurance through their employer.
Wages are much worse for a home-based provider, who nets $165 for a 44-hour workweek and is paid an average of $3.65 an hour.
In addition, the study showed that nearly a third of child-care providers quit every year. Of those leaving, 38 percent leave the field entirely. The main reason they give for leaving is poor compensation and benefits.
Utah's percentage of working mothers is higher than the national average — 64 percent compared to 60 percent.
State policy-makers have viewed child care as a family issue and have been reluctant to impose regulations or even sufficient state funding to draw down federal child-care funds to assist former welfare recipients who are re-entering the work force.
Although some poor families receive federal aid for child care, Utah doesn't offer assistance in paying for it, which is the principal reason that the child-care work force isn't paid better, according to the study. Utah's lack of assistance also means the state has no minimum licensing requirements for workers.
The first five years of development are critical in a child's life and the future of the state, said Lt. Gov. Olene Walker, who attended the campaign's kick-off. "We have more kids 18 years and younger than any other state. It's only right that we focus on these years. It's important that parents understand the need and benefits of child care, whether they are at home with parents, with a relative, friend or neighbor in a formal child-care setting."
The campaign includes a series of radio, TV and newspaper ads emphasizing that quality child care involves "learning and interacting in a healthy environment."
Parents generally underestimate how critical the years under age 5 are to overall childhood development, said Cheryl Wright, director of the Child and Family Development Center at the University of Utah. Research shows time and again that period of life has a profound influence on a person's life, Wright said.
The campaign already has available online a checklist and other resources for parents looking for quality child care at www.careaboutchildcare.org. Information is also available by calling 1-800-622-7390.