DoD Touted as Kid Care Model

President Clinton held up the Defense Department's child development program as a national model of quality child care at a White House conference Thursday.

President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted the conference to examine the strengths and weaknesses of child care in America and explore how the nation can better respond to the needs of working families.

In April, Clinton called the military child development program the "best in the country," and asked Defense Secretary William Cohen to use the military's expertise to improve child care across the country.

The Defense Department program cares for more than 200,000 children daily, with more than 800 day care centers worldwide and almost 10,000 family child care homes on more than 300 installations.

The White House attributes DoD's success to five factors:

• The department maintains a systematic approach to the three components of the program: child development centers, family child care homes and school-age care. Training standards, inspections and background clearances are the same at each level.
• DoD recognizes the unique child care needs of service parents who are subject to extended training exercises and deployments. There is a dollar-for-dollar match of appropriated funds to parent fees for child care.
• DoD conducts comprehensive, unannounced inspections of facilities. Centers that fail to meet standards are closed.
• Military caregivers receive higher average wages and more extensive training than care givers in civilian communities.
• DoD remains committed to meeting national accreditation standards. Currently, more than 75 percent of all eligible military centers have achieved accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, compared to the national average of 7 percent.