Originally published on Face It Movement

Access to high quality, safe child care settings is critical for families across the Commonwealth. But recent data reports highlight an increase of child abuse and maltreatment cases in child care programs across Kentucky: 

  • 46% increase in hotline complaints from 2022–2024
  • 73% increase in substantiated incidents of child abuse and neglect
  • 64% increase in serious injuries to children in licensed child care impacting up to 764 children

This increase is concerning, and there are several factors contributing to this trend, including financial strain placed on child care programs over the past five years.

In order to maintain the health and safety of the children enrolled in child care programs, adults working in child care programs have a maximum number of children that they are allowed to supervise, and this number changes based on the age of the children and the children’s levels of independence. Kentucky already has among the highest adult-to-child ratios in the nation, above the national recommendation, ranging from 1:5 for infants to 1:10 for two-year-olds to 1:14 for 4-year-olds. Although some centers operate under the maximum ratio to increase quality, the financial insecurity of the past several years have led many more centers to operate at maximum capacity in order to increase revenue. This means that Kentucky providers may experience some of the highest stress levels due to the number of children they must care for at one time.  

Although these may just seem like numbers on a page, it is important to remember that these regulations allow for one adult to be left alone all day caring for ten 2-year-olds, while he or she is responsible for feeding, diaper changing, toilet training, and implementing curriculum. It is also critical to remember that one in five children in the US may be diagnosed with a disability, which can dramatically increase the individualized care that children may need. 

Another factor to take into account are barriers to child care staffing due to low wages. Research conducted by the University of Kentucky in 2023/2024 found that the median wage for child care providers was just under $14.00 per hour, or $29,060 annually, and that many programs cannot offer health insurance or other benefits. 

With new child care providers entering the field at the beginning of their professional careers, they do not have the experience needed to successfully manage classrooms. They can become easily overwhelmed with a room full of young children, with and without disabilities, and limited resources on how to support them. National child welfare research identified individual risk factors for abuse as being under the age of 4 and having special needs that increase the burdens on parents or caregivers. This can also lead to abuse in child care programs. Just the same as parents, there are certain protective factors that help child care providers reduce abuse, including a knowledge of child development, supportive relationships with co-workers, and a toolkit of strategies to work with young children. Training and mentoring can be an important tool to help prepare teachers for interacting with children in the classroom setting.  

How do we reduce the cases of child abuse in child care?

  1. Increase funding to child care programs to reduce their classroom sizes and adult-to-child ratios and increase wages. Our children need more individualized care, but if centers simply charge families more tuition to reduce the number of children in the programs, we shift the burden from the centers to the parents. 
  2. Offer Kentucky’s child care providers more training on classroom supervision, classroom management, and supporting children with disabilities. They are currently required to obtain 15 hours of training per year, but there are no requirements on which training topics they should attend. In more rural areas of the state, there may be a lack of training opportunities, so providers simply sign-up for any training that is offered. Directors and staff need to work together to create a professional development plan that will help educators be successful in the classroom. 

Although quality early childhood education is important for all of our private child care programs in Kentucky, there is nothing more important than the health and safety of our young children. It is critical that Kentucky takes steps to maintain these pillars of the early childhood classroom.

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