PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Childcare is both expensive and hard to find. And recent stories have illustrated just how important is to find safe, trustworthy providers.
So how’s a Virginia parent supposed to navigate this world?
The Virginia Department of Education childcare website has myriad tools and guidelines to help, including the “Search for Childcare” webtool. This allows users to search providers by type and locality. It also shows licensing information, hours, approved capacity and other information for each facility.
VDOE chief communications advisor Todd Reid said it’s important for parents to pay attention to how things are run at the facilities they’re considering.
“Generally, pay attention to things like the number of children there, what the facilities look like and things like that,” he said. “Facilities are licensed — or many of the facilities are licensed — and they have specific guidelines they need to meet. And of course, if they do not meet those guidelines, then we would love to know about it so that we can come in and make sure that that folks are raising the standards.”
The VDOE site also includes a page to help you “ask the right questions” when looking into a facility. Those include things like whether or not they’re registered, whether staff are CPR/first-aid certified, how often fire drills are practiced and whether employees are required to be background-checked.
