Child Care Aware® of America, in partnership with the Administration for Children and Family’s (ACF) National Center for Early Childhood Health and Wellness (NCECHW), is pleased to announce a train-the-trainer funding opportunity for child care health and safety. Healthy and Safe Child Care: A Training of Trainers Opportunity is a training support and incentive grant designed to broaden the capacity of child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs) to provide health and safety training to child care providers in support of Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) health and safety training requirements. The grant will also provide curriculum and initial training that supports ACF’s Caring for Our Children Basics standards.

Parents and child care providers agree that feeding and sleep schedules are important to help keep their children healthy. The same goes for childhood immunizations. Vaccinating children on time is the best way to protect them from 14 serious and potentially deadly diseases before their second birthday, and it’s a shared responsibility.

Although it is hard to believe, the first day of school is right around the corner and many are busying themselves in preparation! Child Care Aware® of America has also been busy at work this month with various initiatives, including the release of our Child Care in America: 2016 State Fact Sheets.

Below is more information on this year’s State Fact Sheets and some additional highlights from July.

February of 2012 saw the introduction of laundry detergent "pods" to the market. These pods are small, highly-concentrated single-dose packets, which are brightly colored, often mimicking candy. Since their introduction the pods have been causing an uptick in exposures, as young children mistakenly ingest them.

July 26, 2016 marks the 26th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990.