The holiday season often brings an abundance of excitement for young children who anticipate receiving new toys and games. The gift givers’ tasks aren’t accomplished by simply finding and buying the wish list items—attention also needs to also be paid on ensuring that gifts are age appropriate and pose no safety hazards.

The Problem:

We want young children to explore their environments, so they can acquire new skills and knowledge. Unfortunately, though, in the process of mastering skills such as eating solid foods or climbing, they can get injured.

The Problem:

States and territories must implement Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) requirements on criminal background checks, but those requirements are complicated and can be difficult to understand.

With winter right around the corner and temperatures dropping fast, this is the perfect time to prepare for a possible winter emergency. Many people love the idea of a few inches of fluffy snow falling from the sky, but all too quickly, that few inches can morph into the winter storm of the year. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to ensure that you and your loved ones will be ready for and safe if severe weather strikes.

An alarm rings…lights flash…you regularly practice fire drills, so you know this is the fire alarm. You need to evacuate, but what do you take with you?  Where is the closest exit?  What happens if the closest exit is blocked?  How can you evacuate yourself and your roomful of toddlers quickly and easily?

As the end of the year nears, CCAoA’s Emergency Preparedness Team has been reflecting on the disasters that struck in 2017. Top-of-mind, of course, are the hurricanes—Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Our team worked directly with CCR&Rs affected by the storms and the providers they serve. This is the second of three blogs on lessons learned and our team’s advice for CCR&Rs about the critical things they need to do before, during, and after a disaster. Here's what you can do before a disaster.