Sixteen- and 17-year-olds would be allowed to care for infants and toddlers at child care centers without direct supervision under a bill that advanced Tuesday in the Iowa House of Representatives.
In 2022, theLegislature passed a law that allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to care for school-age kids in child care centers without an adult teacher in the room.
The new bill would allow child care workers under the age of 18 to care for children of any age without an adult in the room. There would have to be at least two adults present elsewhere in the facility.
Rep. Devon Wood, R-New Market, said she supports the bill because it was proposed by some child care center directors, and they are facing workforce shortages.
“It’s an option for them to utilize, especially in some situations where right now they may not be able to safely take a break due to the number of folks that they have available to watch a child,” she said.
Ryan Page, director of child care for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, said the bill is concerning because it would allow a 16-year-old to be solely responsible for a classroom of four babies, seven 2-year-olds, or ten 3-year-olds.
She said she would be open to a more limited policy to allow younger child care workers to supervise a room during nap time while an adult teacher takes a bathroom break.
“I would still continue to have concerns about putting a 16-year-old in an environment with young children that can’t self-report and can’t self-protect, especially as we see challenging behaviors in certain age groups, 2-year-olds biting, 3-year-old behaviors, things like that.”
Page said about 50% of licensed child care centers have had 16- and 17-year-olds care for school-age children without an adult in the room. She said some insurance companies will not cover facilities that allow people under age 18 to provide sole supervision of a classroom.
No stakeholdersspoke in support of the bill at a subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
Lobbyist Dave Stone said United Way of Central Iowa, which funds 15 child care centers, is concerned about the safety of the children as well as the teens experiencing burnout.
“We’re trying to professionalize child care,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure that we have quality, affordable, accessible care. We need everybody we’ve got, but we can’t burn them out in those first two years.”
The bill advanced with the support of the two Republican lawmakers on the panel. The Democrat, Rep. Austen Baeth of Des Moines, voted against the bill. He said it’s hard to find a daycare, so once you get your kids in, there aren’t many options to go somewhere else.
And the parent doesn’t get to decide which teachers care for their children.
“The number one cause of death in the ages of 1 to 2 is choking,” Baeth said. “We’re going to ask a 16-year-old to stay off their phone and watch all the kids, make sure they’re not choking, be ready to do a Heimlich? I worry about that sort of thing.”
He said lawmakers should be innovative in addressing the workforce shortage, but they need to do it in a safe way.
