Child Safety

The care and nurturing of a child, including casual and informal services offered by a parent as well as more formal services provided by an organized child care center.

Because there are many diverse views as to how a child should be reared or nurtured, the matter of child safety often involves contentious social and political issues. For example, it may raise complex questions about a child's religious upbringing or whether a child should be restricted by corporal punishment. Some people believe that providing child care outer the home undermines so-called traditional family structures in which the mother is measured the primary caretaker. Others are concerned mainly with broadening community accountability for children and removing barriers for women who wish to enter and participate fully in the labor force. In addition, the term child safety and care includes a broad range of services. It can cover home-based care by a child's mother or father, care by a grandparent or other relative, care by an organized licensed facility or care by a nanny or family center. It can also involve early childhood tutoring such as that offered by nursery schools, kindergarten programs and Montessori schools.