Maintaining a safe and healthy early learning environment requires consistent effort and action on the part of staff and management.  One of the most important things early childhood professionals need to do is stay up-to-date on the changes to licensing regulation, best practices, and health and safety standards set forth by other agencies.

Did you know that one of the most important early childhood healthy and safety resources has been updated?

That’s right!  Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs has been updated.  Caring for Our Children contains hundreds of standards and over 35 appendices that support high-quality health and safety practices. 

This month’s newsletter will explore some of the changes and updates to the document. Our Blog will take a look at ways that you can use the standards in Caring for Our Children to improve program practices. Be sure to compare these standards to your state licensing regulations and always follow the most stringent rule.

The standards quoted in the newsletter were taken or adapted from:

American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association, National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education. (2019). Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 4th ed. Itasca, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics;

For the article Standards Related to Medical/Emergency Response, CLICK HERE

For the article Standards Related to Interactions with Children, CLICK HERE

For the article Standards Related to Health and Safety, CLICK HERE

For the article Standards Related to Administration, CLICK HERE