Child-care providers who want to see changes in the current child-care system can voice their opinions from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Plaza Inn, 1911 E. Kansas Ave., during a Kansas Department of Health and Environment listening tour.
Jaclyn Vargas, a licensed home child-care provider in Garden City, said she would like to have more consistency with annual inspections and notification of rule changes.
"Sometimes providers aren't aware of a rule change," she said. "One year something is OK, and the next year it's not."
Another area Vargas said needs improvement is changing the infant and toddler age groups.
Under the current regulations, a child is considered an infant from birth to 18 months and a toddler from 18 months to 5 years old. Vargas said she would like to modify those numbers to from birth to 12 months for infants and 12 months to 5 years for toddlers.
She said the modifications of age groups are necessary because they allow providers to take care of toddlers for a longer period of time and help bring in more income to the business. The current regulation stipulates a child moves into the school-age group if they are 5 after June 1.
Vargas said providers should not have to wait until June 1 to declare a 5-year-old as school age. Instead, she suggests changing them over to school age on their fifth birthday.
Joe Blubaugh, director of communications for the KDHE, said the listening tour began Oct. 17 and will run until Nov. 13. He said the KDHE is interested in learning what changes can be made to businesses without jeopardizing safety, accessibility and affordability of child care.
He said the listening tour will help providers discuss licensing and regulation issues, as well as inspections and economic factors in their area.
Julie Dinkel, assistant Head Start director in Garden City, recommends more child-care providers in the state for low-income families. She said the state needs to recruit providers who are not licensed and registered to become licensed with the state.
Vargas agrees.
"I think those who are not licensed do hurt the system," she said. "It's more of a quality issue. No one knows the quality of child care they are providing."