To address challenging behavior in child care settings, it’s important for you and your child care provider to work together as a team and have ongoing communication to identify potential causes of challenging behavior and develop a plan to provide support.
How Can You Work with Your Child Care Provider to Help Prevent Child Expulsion?
Beginning at enrollment, you and your child care provider should work to build a strong relationship. This relationship will help you and your provider share honest information about your child’s successes and challenges. With a strong relationship and ongoing communication, you and your provider can work together to prevent expulsion by talking about concerns early on and identifying strategies to address behavior both at home and at the child care program.
- Ask your child care provider about their policies for addressing challenging behaviors and expelling or excluding children.
- Discuss your child’s needs, interests, and preferences for routines (like sleeping and eating) with your child care provider before enrollment and when changes occur throughout enrollment.
- Discuss any challenging behavior your child may be experiencing and strategies that work in addressing the behavior.
- Build a trusting relationship with your child’s child care provider.
- Follow through in getting any screening or assessment your child’s child care provider suggests.
What Resources Are Available to Children Who Need Support?
Resources are available to support children and their families who are experiencing challenging behaviors. Resources may vary depending on where you live. Seek support from your child care provider, child’s health care team, or child care resource and referral agency.
- Ask about resources in your area that are available to support you and your child with challenging behaviors.
- Ask for referrals to behavioral health organizations, early childhood mental health agencies, or community mental health centers.
- Ask your child’s health care team if a referral to a specialist could help. Ask if they can recommend someone who can do an in-depth evaluation of your child.
- If you suspect your child may have a developmental delay, disability, or mental health issue, ask where your child can get an evaluation. Get more information about what to do if you have concerns about your child’s development.
- If your child is younger than 3 years old and a professional has diagnosed your child with a developmental delay or disability, review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) early intervention information page to learn about early intervention services. To find an early intervention program near you, select your state or territory on ChildCare.gov’s ”See Your State’s Resources” web page and select “Health and Social Services Resources.” An early intervention specialist can also support your child care provider in best meeting your child’s needs more effectively.
What Can I Do if the Program Asks That My Child Leave the Program?
Sometimes, a child care provider may determine it is necessary to remove a child from their program. It may be difficult to imagine that infants, toddlers, and preschoolers could be expelled from a program because of their behavior. But there is growing evidence that young children are being asked to leave child care and preschool settings at a higher rate than school-age children.
The Federal Government has identified the removal of children from child care programs as a concern. Because of this concern, states are developing strategies to prevent the exclusion of children from early childhood programs.
- Early childhood programs are strongly encouraged to create policies to eliminate or severely limit expulsion, suspension, and other exclusionary discipline practices. All discipline policies must comply with federal civil rights laws. Ask your child care provider about their expulsion, suspension, and exclusionary discipline policies.
- Your state or territory’s child care licensing agency can provide information on laws or regulations related to expulsion or suspension from child care programs. To find the child care licensing agency where you live, select your state or territory on the ”See Your State’s Resources” web page and select “Understanding and Finding Child Care Resources.”
Your child may be asked to leave a child care program (or reduce their hours in care) for many reasons. Here are a few examples:
- Your child may benefit from a program with a smaller number of children.
- The daily schedule and routine are not a good fit for your child’s individual needs.
- The program may lack the support and resources to effectively respond to your child’s challenging behavior.
- There is a lack of communication, miscommunication, or differing views between you and the child care program about meeting the needs of your child.
If the decision has been made to remove your child from their child care provider, here are some steps and possible resources to support you and your child.
- Begin looking for a new provider right away. In some areas, finding a new provider can take time. Ask potential providers about how they support children with challenging behaviors. Your state or territory provides a way to find licensed child care online. Select your state or territory in the “Find Child Care” section of the ChildCare.gov home page to connect directly to the online child care search tool for your state or territory.
- Focus on creating a smooth transition for your child. Explain to your child that they will be going to a new child care provider where they will make new friends.
- Let your child’s doctor know about the transition in case your child can benefit from additional screenings or evaluations.