(a) The program
conducted in the facility shall provide for staff supervision of the infants
and toddlers at all times and an environment and experiences which are
developmentally appropriate which are aimed at promoting the infant or
toddler's physical, emotional, intellectual, and social well-being, and
supports the growth and integrity of the family unit.
(b) The director of the facility shall
provide the department with a brief written description of the facility's
program goals and activities, which shall include the following:
(1) Provisions for the promotion of physical
development, which shall include:
(A) Varied,
developmentally appropriate physical activities; and
(B) Opportunities for the infants and
toddlers to learn about the health, development, and care of their bodies
including exercise, safety, nutrition, and hygiene, as appropriate to their age
and development;
(2)
Provisions for the promotion of emotional development, which shall include:
(A) Staff recognition of the special
difficulties of infant and toddler separations and assistance to families,
infants, and toddlers to make the transition from home to facility as gently as
possible, such as a phased-in orientation process to allow infants and toddlers
to experience limited amounts of time at the facility before becoming fully
integrated;
(B) Assignment of each
infant or toddler to a primary caregiver who shall be responsible for care the
majority of the time;
(C) Prompt
response by all caregivers to an infant or toddler's physical and emotional
needs, i.e., feeding, diapering, holding, touching, and eye contact;
(D) Recognition and care of each infant or
toddler as an individual with opportunities for individual choices,
self-expression, and some personal privacy;
(E) Provision of constructive guidance and
the setting of clearly defined limits which foster the infant or toddler's
ability to be self-disciplined, as appropriate to their age and
development;
(F) Prohibition of use
of:
(i) Physical punishment, abuse, or harm
including but not limited to spanking, pinching, slapping, or shaking;
or
(ii) Methods of influencing
behavior which are frightening, humiliating, damaging, neglectful, or injurious
to the infant or toddler's health or self-esteem; and
(G) Providers shall respect each infant's or
toddler's cultural, ethnic, and family background, as well as the child's
primary language or dialect;
(3) Provisions for the promotion of
intellectual development, which shall include:
(A) Offering of frequent, but paced,
personal, verbal, and physical interaction between caregiver and infant or
toddler as part of the daily routine;
(B) Availability of a variety of learning
materials, which staff helps children to use; and
(C) Hands-on experiences, including both
familiar and new activities, to enable the infant or toddler to learn about
themselves and the world; and
(4) Provisions for the promotion of social
development, which shall include:
(A)
Caregiver behavior and interactions which emphasize and foster attitudes of
mutual respect between adults and children and between children; and
(B) Guidance to infants and toddlers to
enable them to develop and work out ways of getting along with each other,
including an appreciation of cultural and ethnic diversity, as appropriate to
the infant or toddler's level of understanding.
(c) The program shall provide a balance of
active and quiet activities and shall recognize the infants and toddlers' need
for uninterrupted sleep.
(d) In
drop-in centers, every effort shall be made to place an infant or toddler, who
uses the center frequently, with the same caregiver.
(e) The program shall provide information on
and access to parenting resources (i.e., bulletin boards, classes, resource
libraries, handouts).
