Federal health officials say they want to overhaul federally funded child care facilities across the country, beefing up safety standards for employees and requiring states to better monitor the facilities.
Roughly 1.6 million children across the U.S. attend child care on federal government subsidies. But health, safety and program quality requirements for those facilities vary widely among states.
Department of Health and Human Services officials told The Associated Press that a proposal will be released Thursday. Under new rules, workers would undergo fingerprinting and background checks and be required to receive training in first aid and CPR. Officials say the rules would increase accountability among child care providers and improve transparency for parents.
States would have to comply with the standards to receive the federal funds.
