Why don't daycares require seats at pick up?

KaysKidz

Senior Community Member
I really wish our daycare would require anyone picking up children to have a restraint for a child required to be in one. They only take kids through 5yrs, so every kid at the center would legally have to be in one unless they were over 60lbs...which none of them are.

Today, a 4yr old boy was picked up by someone in a new Toyota minivan. Driver put the kid in the front seat with NO restraint. Buckled him in and put the shoulder belt behind the seat...and drove off.

When I did daycare, I required anyone picking up a kid to have a restraint. I actually refused to let a kid leave once until they came back with one. And I was within my rights as a provider. As a center, they are required to report suspected abuse. Well, what about child endangerment?

Ticks me off to see people so careless about these children. :mad:
 
ADS

Jessica61624

New member
I see some of the worst misuse at daycare. I stopped looking!

One day this lady put her 18 month old in a hbb and her 4/5 year old in nothing! I was horrified. We often do drop off and pick up at the same time. I always wish she'd ask why my 2 yr old is rf.
 

KaysKidz

Senior Community Member
I see some of the worst misuse at daycare. I stopped looking!

HOW did you stop? I can't help myself. And it just breaks my heart. Here I struggle with my almost 3yr old being FF...and people are putting their 4yr olds in the front seat with nothing. And she got on a road that was 65mph. :(

It's sad that people really don't think it can happen to them. Pretty damn sure 99.9% of people who get in a wreck, didn't think it would happen to them either.
 

lourdes

Well-known member
In my home day care I have a rule, "no car seat, no child" and this has been this way even before I came here. One day a grandmother came to pick up her 8 month old grandchild with a Evenflo Chace, I didn't give her the baby, she came back one hour later with a Chicco Keyfit.
 

Kobain's Mommy

Well-known member
In centers workers are paid as little as possible, and have as few staff as possible. At close the workers have a lot to do after all the kids are gone. There really isn't time to check to make sure every child is in it's proper restraint. I worked in centers for a couple years and the one I was at the longest I can't even tell you what type of car the parents drove let alone seats. Parents had to walk through the center to the back to the room I was in. In fact MOST (not all) centers workers have no idea about car seats and proper use.

I was in an infant room. The director actually threatened to report a family because they only brought their 1 year old son in a fleece hoodie during the winter wrapped in blankets. She flipped out on mom, made mom cry, and demanded they get him a winter coat or she'd call CPS on them. When mom came to pick him up she had a huge puffy coat... I wasn't into car seats at the time but mom seemed really into safety. When he was in his infant seat he was in a KeyFit that was properly buckled, no belly clip, and tight harness. The rest of the kids had belly clips, Graco seats (nothing wrong with them), and harness so loose that one kid we could pull out without undoing it. All of those came in huge puffy coats in the winter.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
There are legal issues with preventing an authorized person from picking up their child or leaving the premises (kidnapping, false imprisonment, etc. come to mind.) In California, child care centers are required to have posted or distributed information on child restraint laws. Their responsibility legally ends there, and the legality of keeping someone from taking their child is extremely dubious. They can call the cops if they see someone driving a child away without a seat- that's about it.
 

HeatherMo745

New member
I worked in a center for a bit and it was HORRIBLE! My child will NEVER attend a center due to my experience of working in one. Parents had to go to rooms to get their children at this center so we never saw the cars or seats. All the workers were pretty irresponsible so I doubt they'd care or know anything about seats. There were times I would start my shift in the infant room and a babies chart would be blank from the last 3 or 4 hours. I would be flabbergasted! When saying something to someone about it I got the excuse that they just forgot to chart what was going on. I eventually quit when they left me with twenty two 2-3 year olds (which was against the law) and tried to get me to hold a higher position without a pay raise. I'm not saying all daycares are like that, but I think personal "in-home" daycare is better than centers and you'd probably find more who care about safe car seat use!
 

jeminijad

New member
As passionate as I am about keeping kids safe in the car, I would have a HUGE freakin problem with a paid employee (day care provider) refusing to give me back my child because they don't like my parenting choices.

Even in the case of when the law is being broken- call the police. Do not presume to detain someone else's baby.
 

T4K

Well-known member
HeatherMo745 said:
I worked in a center for a bit and it was HORRIBLE! My child will NEVER attend a center due to my experience of working in one. Parents had to go to rooms to get their children at this center so we never saw the cars or seats. All the workers were pretty irresponsible so I doubt they'd care or know anything about seats. There were times I would start my shift in the infant room and a babies chart would be blank from the last 3 or 4 hours. I would be flabbergasted! When saying something to someone about it I got the excuse that they just forgot to chart what was going on. I eventually quit when they left me with twenty two 2-3 year olds (which was against the law) and tried to get me to hold a higher position without a pay raise. I'm not saying all daycares are like that, but I think personal "in-home" daycare is better than centers and you'd probably find more who care about safe car seat use!

This is a limited view based on your experience. There are plenty of home day cares that I wouldn't visit again, not even with a 20 foot pole. Just because it's at a home doesn't mean car seat use is good.

Furthermore, my child is statistically safer all day at the day care center (which is awesome) than at a home that carts her around in the car all day.
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
In my home day care I have a rule, "no car seat, no child" and this has been this way even before I came here. One day a grandmother came to pick up her 8 month old grandchild with a Evenflo Chace, I didn't give her the baby, she came back one hour later with a Chicco Keyfit.

I would have called 911 for kidnapping and an attorney to break any contract because I wouldn't be paying you another cent, including a termination fee. Seriously.
 

lourdes

Well-known member
carseatcoach said:
I would have called 911 for kidnapping and an attorney to break any contract because I wouldn't be paying you another cent, including a termination fee. Seriously.

In my day care forms I include one that the parents have to read and put their signature in, it says that all children most leave in a proper car seat for their age, all my parents agreed, I even have a spare car seat just for the day car and let all parents use it if they need it, so for them there is not excuse and they know that I do it because I care, all my paper work has being revise and approve by a lawyer, if the parents signed the paper I am ok, but I have a home day care not a big day care
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
A contract won't protect you from criminal charges. Any contract one enters into agreeing to not hold the other party liable for criminal activities is moot, null and void...
 

tarynsmum

Senior Community Member
I worked in a center for a bit and it was HORRIBLE! My child will NEVER attend a center due to my experience of working in one. Parents had to go to rooms to get their children at this center so we never saw the cars or seats. All the workers were pretty irresponsible so I doubt they'd care or know anything about seats. There were times I would start my shift in the infant room and a babies chart would be blank from the last 3 or 4 hours. I would be flabbergasted! When saying something to someone about it I got the excuse that they just forgot to chart what was going on. I eventually quit when they left me with twenty two 2-3 year olds (which was against the law) and tried to get me to hold a higher position without a pay raise. I'm not saying all daycares are like that, but I think personal "in-home" daycare is better than centers and you'd probably find more who care about safe car seat use!

I agree with PP, this is you personal experience.Our center is NAEYC accredited, all 5 keystone stars - and ALL of the staff (even "temp" kids that shadow for college, and the college kids that help out with summer camp) are 100% fantastic. Charts are always filled out, I get personal texts or emails when something exciting happens (DS pooped on the potty, etc). Field trips come to us so that there's no risk during transportation (only the Pre-K goes on field trips, and then it is in a full-size van with half the van equipped with restraints for smaller kids). I can't comment on what they're getting paid, because I've never asked, but in the 4 years we've been there I've seen very, very little turnover.

As for the OP's topic - we have a closed circle driveway where we pick up and drop off - parents park in the circle, and go in and get kids. I've talked to the director (we're going to try and get some of the staff CPS certified over the summer), and there's no way to check vehicles - the teachers need to stay in their classrooms to stay under ratio (they won't even go to the bathroom without someone coming in to watch so that they stay under) - it would be up to the director to literally stand at the door all day, which really just isn't practical. Instead we have flyers and signs posted, but at the end of the day, the school can't (legally) do anything if parents choose to not use appropriate restraints.
 

VoodooChile

New member
My ds's preschool (not a day care, I know) has a letter in the front of the parent handbook about kids needing to be in car seats at drop-off and pick up. So in theory, it's "enforced." In practice, the kids are released to their parents and the teachers don't walk the kids to their vehicles, so the don't know what we put them in, if anything. Just the other day I saw a parent drive off with 3 kids bouncing around in the backseat. From what I've seen, ds is one of the few "still" in a 5-point harness.
 

lourdes

Well-known member
ketchupqueen said:
A contract won't protect you from criminal charges. Any contract one enters into agreeing to not hold the other party liable for criminal activities is moot, null and void...

That's why I have back up car seats, the lawyer said that the only way it could work it was if I had car seats so I have a Chicco Keyfit, a Cosco Scenera, a Evenflo high back booster and a Harmony low back booster. The day the grandma came to pick up the baby they had my back up Keyfit so I call the mom and she told grandma to go get the car seat. I have even let parents use my DD Complete Air when the back up is in use.
 

Phineasmama

New member
As much as I wish they could require car seats, it's not for a daycare provider to take matters into their own hands. If abuse or neglect or something illegal (not using a car seat) is suspected or known the proper authorities should be notified and let them deal with it. Sometimes you have to cover your own butt.

It's kind of like when an employee at a store sees someone shoplifting, it is illegal for them to detain the person, they have to call the police.
 

HeatherMo745

New member
tarynsmum said:
I agree with PP, this is you personal experience.Our center is NAEYC accredited, all 5 keystone stars - and ALL of the staff (even "temp" kids that shadow for college, and the college kids that help out with summer camp) are 100% fantastic. Charts are always filled out, I get personal texts or emails when something exciting happens (DS pooped on the potty, etc). Field trips come to us so that there's no risk during transportation (only the Pre-K goes on field trips, and then it is in a full-size van with half the van equipped with restraints for smaller kids). I can't comment on what they're getting paid, because I've never asked, but in the 4 years we've been there I've seen very, very little turnover.

As for the OP's topic - we have a closed circle driveway where we pick up and drop off - parents park in the circle, and go in and get kids. I've talked to the director (we're going to try and get some of the staff CPS certified over the summer), and there's no way to check vehicles - the teachers need to stay in their classrooms to stay under ratio (they won't even go to the bathroom without someone coming in to watch so that they stay under) - it would be up to the director to literally stand at the door all day, which really just isn't practical. Instead we have flyers and signs posted, but at the end of the day, the school can't (legally) do anything if parents choose to not use appropriate restraints.

Well as I said "I'm not saying all centers are like that". After all, you can only build judgement on something from personal experiences and mine just happen to be for home care and against centers.
 

creideamh

Well-known member
I didn't read all the posts, but mine does. It was in the contract I signed to enroll her- every person picking up a child MUST have a car seat, otherwise the school will keep the child there until the parent/whoever gets someone to bring a car seat. If they refuse, the school will contact the police and CPS.
Our school is 3 months through kindergarten. Our state requires all children under 8 to be in a child restraint, so it's totally fair.
ETA: Would they ACTUALLY be able to keep a parent there? Don't think so, but they'd be able to expel the kid and have the police pull them over as soon as they drive away. And knowing the owner, I doubt she'd even bat an eyelash.

There are no field trips or school-provided transportation of any kind, so no buses or big vans. Also, the parents park either in the lot or in the circle, walk in, pick kid up, sign kid out, walk out. There's no one really overseeing the car seat thing, but I have yet to see a kid without a car seat... the threat stated in the contract is enough to scare most. :p
 
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emandbri

Well-known member
The preschool Elizabeth and Benjamin went to the teachers put the kids in the car seats, if a parent didn't have a seat they had to park, go into the school and sign their child out.

I do home child care and if a parent came without a seat they would borrow one from me. Last fall I had a 1 year old and the dad was supposed to pick her up so he had the seat in his car but the mom got off early and didn't think about it. I loaned her a MA.

A while back the 4 year old's mom I watch accidentally left her seat in someone's else's car. She came in a graco backless booster and left in a nautilus.
 

bnsnyde

New member
I love daycare centers. I could never afford to put four small kids in one, but I love them.

I drive by them and dream...such good social interaction, the kids are always busy, lots going on, healthy snacks, a schedule appropriate for the kids, and (mostly, hopefully) energetic people.

We've compromised and my 5-year-old does half a day 2 days a week. He gets bussed but as mentioned, they put the kids in NOTHING in a 15-passenger van when the shuttle is busy, so those days I drive him. The working parents have no choice, and I feel bad. If something happened those kids are not protected very well at all. Other than that, it's a fantastic place.
 

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