Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Child Care Infant Mortality Prevention Act of 2013”.
Child Care Infant Mortality Prevention Act of 2013
A BILL
To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to improve child safety and reduce the incidence of preventable infant deaths in child care settings.
Sec. 2 Findings and purposes
Findings— Congress finds the following:
For millions of today’s working families, child care is an essential ingredient of their success. Child care helps children, families, and communities prosper, and helps the Nation maintain its competitive edge.
Close to 12,000,000 children under age 5, and 10,000,000 over the age of 5, are in some type of child care setting each day.
More than 60 percent of children are cared for regularly in a child care setting.
Recent polls of working parents found that parents are primarily concerned about safety and quality of care, followed by cost.
Nationally, the most common form of death among post-neonatal infants under age 1 is death occurring during sleep, as a result of incorrect sleeping practices.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year in the United States, more than 4,500 infants die suddenly of no immediately obvious cause. Half of these sudden unexpected infant deaths are due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the leading cause of sudden unexpected infant deaths and all deaths among infants who are not younger than 1 month but younger than 12 months.
Researchers estimate that child care settings account for at least 20 percent of sudden unexpected infant deaths in the United States.
In its 2011 report on child care center licensing regulations, Child Care Aware of America, formerly known as the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, noted that—
extensive research and recommendations from organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention favor simple life-saving safe sleep strategies to eliminate serious risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and sudden unexpected infant death; and
the strategies noted in subparagraph (A) are not universally required under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 nor in the majority of State child care regulations.
Sec. 3 Goals
Section 658A(b)(5) of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 note) is amended to read as follows:
“(5) to ensure the health, safety, development and well-being of children in programs supported under this subchapter and to assist States in improving the overall quality of child care services and programs by implementing the health, safety, licensing, and oversight standards established in State law (including regulations).”
Sec. 4 Application and plan
Section 658E(c)(2)(F) of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 6858c(c)(2)(F)) is amended by striking clause (iii) and all that follows and inserting the following:
“(iii) minimum health and safety training appropriate to the provider setting, including training on cardiopulmonary resuscitation, first aid, safe sleep practices and other sudden unexpected infant death prevention strategies.”
Sec. 5 Activities to promote child safety and improve the quality of child care
Section 658G of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858e) is amended—
by striking “choice, and” and inserting “choice,”; and
by striking the period and inserting “training (including training in safe sleep practices, first aid, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation), and other activities designed to ensure and improve the health and safety of children receiving child care services under this subchapter.”.
Sec. 6 Dissemination of materials and information on safe sleep and other sudden unexpected infant death prevention strategies
Section 658K of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858i) is amended—
by striking the section header and inserting the following:
“658K. Reports, audits, and information”
by adding at the end the following:
“(c) Information on sudden unexpected infant death prevention strategies—The Secretary, working with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, shall—
“(1) update training, instructional materials, and other information on safe sleep practices and other sudden unexpected infant death prevention strategies; and
“(2) widely distribute the training, materials, and information to parents, child care providers, pediatricians, home visitors, community colleges, and other individuals and entities.”