States are required to background check child care workers. Many are falling short.

Mississippi Today

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States are required to background check child care workers. Many are falling short.

More than a decade ago, Celia Sims sat in a room with parents whose precious children had died while at day care. Most had been neglected by their caregivers. Some died from injuries, others in their sleep.  Most of the children attended licensed facilities, and at the time, their parents believed that licensing meant providers were safe, that unqualified workers were screened out. But they weren’t.  In the early 2010s, there was no federal requ…