ATLANTA -- A program called My Buddy and Me and the death of a teen with special needs who was in its care are renewing a question among parents as their children go to daycare and camp. Are their children safe?
The Department of Early Care and Learning is now investigating the program because it didn't have a state license to provide childcare services. Meanwhile, department spokesperson Reg Griffin is trying to get the word out to parents regarding how they can make sure that a program is licensed with the state.
By searching a Georgia childcare database known as Quality Rated, parents can check for this information on any state camp or program in the system.
"You can plug in the information either by an address [or] the facility name," Griffin said.
In seconds, parents can see a list of programs registered with the state and details about each one. By law in Georgia, childcare services must either be licensed, meaning they applied for and received a license from the state or have an exemption. That latter status lets certain programs operate without a license but they still need to provide the state with certain basic information.
"We have felt, through the years, that it is important for us to know who these providers are, where they're physically located, the type of activities they're doing."
Griffin said that across the state, there are around 5,000 exempt programs. Others, though, might simply not know the rules and they can fly under the radar.
"They may be totally genuine with what they're trying to do and have the best of intentions," Griffin said. "They might have a business license but not know they need to be licensed or exempt with the state of Georgia."
For registered programs though, back online, parents can quickly learn more about where their child will be.
"For licensed programs, you have an added feature of all of the inspection reports," Griffin said.
They let you read about every time the state paid a visit to the child care facility. More importantly, though, Griffin recommends stepping away from the keyboard and meeting your childcare provider in person.
"You really want to have a one-on-one conversation with the people who are directly involved in the program," he said. "And you want to ask the tough questions just like you would in a job interview."
