Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/the-us-military-child-care-system/5016131/
Based on an interview by Roger Neugebauer"I believe that the military child care system �" which not only recognizes that children need good care, but also that such care cannot be provided without a sound structure, that recognizes that the skills and compensation of a child’s caregiver is central to their development �" should be replicated and funded in every state." - Helen Blank, with Children’s Defense Fund at the time of this quote
Who would have thought that we would look to the military for our child care models? But in fact, the military is not only the largest provider of employer child care in the Nation, but certainly among the highest quality providers.
Not always a rosy picture
Military child care has not always been a model system. As recently as the early 1980s, child care services of the military were inconsistent, with many programs having serious deficiencies: supply was inadequate with thousands of children on the waiting lists; oversight was minimal; programs were operated by volunteer groups in unsafe facilities that often failed to meet basic health and safety standards; and, caregivers were poorly trained and poorly paid.
Finally, in the late 1980s, Government Accounting Office reports and Congressional hearings exposed ...