Child Care Resources

Healthy Kids, Healthy Future continues the work of Let’s Move! Child Care (LMCC), part of Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to prevent childhood obesity. Healthy Kids, Healthy Future encourages and supports child care and early education providers to make positive changes in their programs to work toward a healthier future for children. Healthy Kids, Healthy Future is voluntary and for all types of programs: family child care homes, centers, Early Head Start and Head Start programs, preschool, tribal programs, and faith-based programs.

Healthy Kids, Healthy Future offers childhood obesity prevention resources and tools to assist child care and preschool providers. Best practices are outlined in five healthy goal areas: nurturing healthy eaters, providing healthy beverages, increasing physical activity, limiting screen time, and supporting breastfeeding.

Find more information at https://healthykidshealthyfuture.org/

Report and check for recalls on unsafe products through the Consumer Product Safety Commision. 

https://www.cpsc.gov/

Juvenile background checks:

Daycare licensing requires that every individual 13 years of age or older must complete a DHW criminal history check and a check of all juvenile justice records in all the counties the individual has lived in from the age of 13 through 17. The parent/guardian is responsible for initiating these checks and for any costs associated with them. This document was developed by the department in an effort to streamline the juvenile justice records request process. 

Authorization and request for search of juvenile justice records

Criminal history background checks: 

Child care licensing standards require each owner, operator, and applicant seeking licensure for a daycare center, group daycare facility, or a family daycare home to submit evidence that is satisfactory to the department that owners, operators, staff, and all other individuals 13 years of age or older who have unsupervised direct contact with children or are regularly on the premises have successfully completed and received a clearance for a department criminal history and background check under the provisions of Sections 39-1105 and 39-1113, Idaho Code.

The Background Check Unit completes background checks for child care providers.

Safe sleep practices are required for all child care providers in Idaho. Providers must place infants from newborn to 12 months in a safe sleep environment. Safe sleep practices mean that a baby is alone, on his or her back, and in a Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) certified crib. Important information for providers to include in their sleep policies include the following:

• Back to sleep for every sleep. To reduce the risks of SIDS, infants should be placed for sleep completely on the back for every sleep by every caregiver until 1 year of age. Side sleeping is not safe and not advised.
• Consider offering a pacifier at nap time and bedtime. The pacifier should not have cords or attaching mechanisms that might be a strangulation risk.
• Place babies on a firm sleep surface, covered by a fitted sheet that meets current safety standards. For more information about crib safety standards, visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission's website.
• Keep soft objects, loose bedding, bumper pads, and any objects that could increase the risk of suffocation or strangulation from the baby’s sleep area.
• Loose bedding, such as sheets and blankets, should not be used. Sleep clothing, such as sleepers, sleep sacks, and wearable blankets, are good alternatives to blankets.
• Sleep only one baby per crib.
• Keep the room at a temperature that is comfortable for a lightly clothed adult.
• Do not use wedges or infant positioners, since there’s no evidence they reduce the risk of SIDS, and they may increase the risk of suffocation.
• Teach all staff, substitutes, and volunteers about safe sleep policies and practices and be sure to review these practices often.
   

Resources

Download more Information and/or order free educational materials

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a member of the herpesvirus family. CMV infects people of all ages and is usually asymptomatic. Some people who acquire CMV infection may experience symptoms similar to those of mononucleosis. After initial infection, the virus establishes lifelong latency and may be intermittently reactivated in those with weakened immune systems. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over half of adults are infected with CMV by age 40.  

Pregnant women can pass CMV to fetuses at any time during pregnancy, which can result in congenital CMV infection. This can happen following a primary infection, reinfection with a different CMV strain, or reactivation of a previous infection. Primary infections occur in 1 to 4 percent of seronegative pregnant women and lead to fetal infection in 40 to 50 percent of these pregnancies. Maternal CMV reactivation or reinfection with a different CMV strain leads to fetal infection in about 1 percent of seropositive pregnant women.

Disease burden

CMV is the most common infectious cause of birth defects in the United States. According to the CDC, about 1 in 200 infants are born in the United States with congenital CMV infection each year. This rate equates to about 115 babies born in Idaho with congenital CMV each year. Most infants with congenital CMV are asymptomatic and will not have long-term health problems. However, about 20 percent of infected infants will experience long-term health problems.

Resources

Download more information and/or order free educational materials

Child care centers, emergency shelters, at-risk afterschool care centers, outside-school-hours care centers, Head Start programs and adult day care centers may participate in the child and adult care food program either independently or under the sponsorship of a public or private nonprofit organization. Family daycare homes must participate under a sponsoring organization. The centers or homes receive reimbursement for meals and/or snacks that meet the meal pattern and are served to participants. Depending on the type of center or home, the reimbursement rates are based on the income level of the participants, provider, or local geographic area.

Apply for CACFP
Visit Idaho CACFP’s website to receive information on CACFP and apply for the program.

The Idaho Child Care team conducts statewide tours across Idaho to share state updates and gather feedback from child care providers. To see the most recent meeting summary notes and additional details, view the Idaho Child Care Program State Tour 2023 folder.