Child care choice

To the editor:

As a home child care provider of 22 years, I would like to address the following three points concerning the April 9 article, “Choosing child care requires research”:

First, accreditation is not required by the state of Kansas in order to do child care. There is currently only one center in Lawrence that is accredited, and no day care homes are accredited.

The state of Kansas has requirements for licensed, group or registered homes and centers that includes specific hours of in-service on continuing education. These hours are required to be recertified each year.

Second, the article states that day care providers need accreditation to be taken seriously. Does 13, 22, 25, 30 years of home child care experience sound serious enough? How about providers with degrees in music therapy, elementary education, Montessori care, nursing and many more? How about providers who stay home to take care of their own children and to earn a respectable business income? I’d say all of us should be considered serious providers.

Lastly, the idea of price shopping for child care! Please, leave that for cars, groceries, clothing, etc., not our precious children. We should not put a price on our children.

Diane L. Coester,

Lawrence