The National Resource Center (NRC) for Health and Safety in Child Care has available a new web-based tool, Healthy Kids, Healthy Care. Designed for parents, Healthy Kids, Healthy Care contains 34 key health and safety practices for parents and families to look for when evaluating and choosing childcare/early education programs.

Parents also can use the resources to improve the quality of their child’s current program and will find answers to important questions such as:

• When to keep a sick child home from childcare?
• What is the appropriate number of children per caregiver?
• What should be done when a child is bitten in childcare?

Caregivers also will find the resources useful to evaluate and improve their services and environments. Healthy Kids, Healthy Care gives quick access to key information, as well as offering users the opportunity to look into a topic in detail.

For each topic, Healthy Kids, Healthy Care provides specific ideas for parents on how to help and work in partnership with their caregivers to ensure healthy children and safe environments. The website offers caregivers and parents links to additional web resources related to each topic.

Topics are arranged in six clusters: caregivers, cleanliness, emotional health, healthy habits, illness-chronic conditions-special needs, and safety.

The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care has a variety of resources available to childcare programs both from their website and as well as in paper form. Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care, 2nd Edition is used by thousands of childcare programs across the U.S. and is available in hard copy and on the website and can be searched for specific areas of health and safety.

The NRC also provides information on state licensing regulations as well as connections to a variety of childcare health and safety resources.

National Resource Center for Health & Safety in Child Care, UCHSC at Fitzsimons, Campus Mail Stop F541; PO Box 6508, Aurora, CO 80045-0508; 800-598-KIDS; nrc.uchsc.edu

Healthy Kids, Healthy Care; healthykids.us