Resources and Valuable Web Sites
American Academy of Pediatrics-publications
http://www.aap.org
This site has information for child care providers and parents. Healthy Child Care America http://www.healthychildcare.org has health and safety information for child care providers.
American with Disabilities Act pertaining to child care
http://www.ada.gov/childqanda.htm
The ADA site gives guidance on making the child care setting accessible to all children and accommodating to the physical, health, and developmental needs of children with disabilities.
Caring for Our Children - National Health and Safety Performance Standards Guidelines For Early Care and Education Programs (4th edition)
http://nrckids.org/
This site contains the national health and safety standards for child care.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
http://www.cdc.gov/DiseasesConditions/index.html
This site has fact sheets for communicable diseases.
Child Abuse - To Report Child Abuse - Call: 1-800-362-2178
http://dhs.iowa.gov/child-abuse Iowa Department of Human Services Child Abuse Website
Child Abuse Information
http://www.pcaiowa.org
Prevent Child Abuse Iowa has information about preventing child abuse and neglect, and child advocacy.
Child Care Regulations for Iowa Centers and Child Development Homes
http://dhs.iowa.gov/licensure-and-registration
The Iowa Department of Human Services website has resources available for child care providers to assist them with licensing and registration requirements.
Child Care Resource and Referral (Iowa)
http://www.iowaccrr.org
Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) is a program to support quality child care throughout the state of Iowa. CCR&R is available to assist families in selecting child care providers who best meet the needs of a child and their family. Child Care Consultants provide on-site consultation to licensed preschools, centers, nonregistered home providers and Child Development Home providers.
Children's Defense Fund
http://www.childrensdefense.org
CDF is a child advocacy program that monitors national events and actions that aid children or put children at risk. CDF has a system to alert professionals about pending issues of great importance to children.
Dental Screening & Oral Health
http://ismile.idph.iowa.gov/
Dental screening aids the early detection and making of referrals for treatment of dental disease; reduces impact of dental disease; encourages effective oral health practices early in life; and promotes the importance of oral health as an integral component of preparation for school and learning.
Early Childhood Iowa (ECI)
"Every child, beginning at birth, will be healthy and successful". Early Childhood Iowa (ECI) was founded on the premise that communities and state government can work together to improve the well being of our youngest children. ECI's efforts unite agencies, organizations and community partners to speak with a shared voice to support, strengthen and meet the needs of all young children and families. https://earlychildhood.iowa.gov/
Environmental Health
The following websites have information related to environmental health issues that effect children:
• Air Quality
• Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
Good Neighbor Iowa
Good Neighbor Iowa is a statewide public education campaign to reduce children’s exposure to commonly-used lawn pesticides. It involves school districts, park managers, child care businesses and other community leaders who are demonstrating that it is possible and practical to manage large areas of turf without the use of pesticides (weed killers, insecticides, or fungicides). Good Neighbor Iowa has a Lawn Care and Pest Management Policy available for child care businesses.
Health and Dental Insurance for Iowa Children
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is offered through the Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa program, also known as Hawki. Iowa offers Hawki health coverage for uninsured children of working families.
Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children (Iowa AEYC)
Iowa Core Knowledge of Child Development http://www.iowaaeyc.org/iowa-core-knowledge-of-child-development.cfm
The Iowa Core Knowledge of Child Development assists adults with ideas to increase their knowledge and their ability to appropriately respond to children in their lives - whether as a parent, guardian, grandparent, child care provider, family support worker, retail employee, medical provider, or any other role as a positive adult in the life of a child.
Iowa Immunization Forms
Iowa Quality for Kids (IQ4KTM)
https://iowaccrr.org/providers/iq4k/
Iowa Quality for Kids (IQ4KTM) is Iowa’s new Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for DHS licensed Child Care Centers and preschools, registered Child Development Homes and programs operating under the authority of an accredited school district or nonpublic school. IQ4K provides five levels of quality (building blocks) that programs can achieve and continue to improve on. By implementing Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), IQ4K allows programs to assess their current grade across all areas of programming and devise a structured plan to increase the overall level of program quality.
Iowa SIDS Foundation
http://www.iowasids.org/
The Iowa Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Foundation is a statewide, non-profit, voluntary health organization dedicated to providing emotional support to SIDS and SUID families residing in Iowa, educating professionals and the general public about SIDS and risk reduction, and funding medical research into the causes of SIDS.
ISU Extension and Outreach
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach supports families and child care providers. Resources are available at:
KidSight
https://medicine.uiowa.edu/kidsight/
Iowa KidSight is a joint project of the Lions Clubs of Iowa and the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, dedicated to enhancing the early detection and treatment of vision impairments in young children (target population 6 months of age through kindergarten) in Iowa communities through screening and public education. The project provides FREE vision screening for infants and young children throughout all of Iowa's 99 counties.
Mandatory Reporter Training HF 731
https://dhs.iowa.gov/child-welfare/mandatoryreporter
Both the Child Abuse Mandatory Reporter Training and the Dependent Adult Mandatory Reporter training will be available through the Iowa Department of Human Services website and available by July 1, 2019. Each participant will register with DHS’ Learning Management System and complete the training online - available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no fee for this training.
National After School Alliance
http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/
The National Afterschool Alliance supports child care providers working with school-age children in before and after school and summer programs. The National Afterschool Alliance has national standards for quality school-age care.
National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org
NAEYC is a professional organization for child care providers. This website has materials and other resources for child care providers. The NAEYC accreditation standards and process are listed.
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
https://usa.childcareaware.org/
NACCRRA is a professional organization supporting personnel of child care resource and referral agencies and child care providers. NACCRRA has materials for child care providers that focus on developing quality child care programs.
National Association of Family Child Care
http://www.nafcc.org
NAFCC supports child care providers that work in their own home or in the homes of the children they care for.
National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care
http://nrc.uchsc.edu
The National Resource Center seeks to improve the quality of child care by supporting state and local health agencies, child care resource and referral agencies, and child care providers. This site has various print and electronic resources to aid the child care provider in responding to health and safety issues.
Period of PURPLE Crying
Period of PURPLE crying website
The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome has information about the Period of PURPLE Crying, research, and online videos on infant crying and soothing techniques.
Playground Safety
http://www.uni.edu/playground
The National Program for Playground Safety has resource materials and training available to improve the safety of children in outdoor play.
Poison Control
For emergencies or for assistance regarding a poisoning event, call 1-800-222-1222
Safe Kids Campaign
http://www.safekids.org
The National Safe Kids Campaign is dedicated to protecting kids from unintentional injuries. They work to reduce traffic injuries, drowning, falls, burns, poisonings and more. The website has information for preventing childhood injuries.
Shaken Baby
http://www.safebaby.org
The Shaken Baby Task Force seeks to educate the public about the dangers of shaking a baby. Find helpful hints about coping with a crying baby and anger management. This website has various free resources to aid in educating and preventing this tragedy. They offer a free 24-hour emergency hotline 1-866-243-BABY
Substance Abuse
http://www.drugfreeinfo.org
Iowa child care providers may work with children and families effected by substance abuse. Iowa has a network of programs to assist community members in understanding the concerns and issues of substance abuse.
24 hour Substance Abuse Helpline - 1-866-242-4111
Universal Precautions for Iowa Early Childhood and School-age Professionals
http://ccmis.dhs.state.ia.us/trainingregistry/TrainingRegistry/Public/
Universal Precautions is available for FREE and ONLINE for Iowa early care and education providers. You will need your DHS registry Account ID (firstname.lastname@iowaid) to register. A sample OSHA Exposure Control Plan is available for free download on the "Printed Products" tab on this website.