One of the things I am planning to do is to become a child care trainer. National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Centers (NACCRRA) has several online trainings that would benefit me. Smart Horizons is an online training provider that offers courseware development by experienced Instructional Designers, custom offerings, Learning Management services and superior media design (www.naccra.org, 2012).

NACCRA posted an article about over crowed child cares. Beverly Greenagel was supervising 18 children -- six more than the law allowed -- on the day that Dane Ableidinger died in her care. She watched from her kitchen window as some of the kids hurled water balloons in the back yard. Her assistant, an untrained 12-year-old, played video games with other children in a downstairs room next to where Dane slept. Neither one saw the 3-month-old struggling to lift his head from the folded blanket on the floor where he had been placed on his stomach for a nap. An hour passed before the helper peeked in and saw the infant's face embedded in the flannel blanket. She rolled him on his side and screamed. "Oh, um," the panicked girl said in a 911 call. "There's a baby dead." (www.naccra.org, 2012). It is disturbing to me that licensed providers can get away with going over capacity and having untrained, not to mention way to young people, helping in their child care. In my past experiences I have seen situations like this and they are not caught because of under staffing due to budget cuts. What will it take for politicians to realize that early childhood education is an important part of raising a successful child and building our future?

NACCRA is a key player to help Resource and Referral Centers learn how to educate parents on what to look for in quality child care, as well as being a strong voice in politics. If you are not familiar with them I strongly recommend that you look at the website as well as getting to know your local Resource and Referral Center.
I hear more and more that Mom’s cannot work because of the cost of child care. I know in Maryland they are constantly cutting funds from child care subsidy for families that are struggling. On NACCRRA’s website I did not see anything about what economists and politicians are doing in Maryland to support early childhood education. I am a member of Maryland’s Public Policy Committee, which where I receive the information about financial cuts to child care.