Health and Safety Support

Good health and safety practices are the foundation of quality for your child care program. IdahoSTARS can support your program with implementing current recommended health, safety, and nutrition practices. Reach out to your local Child Care Health Consultant by calling the Idaho CareLine at 2-1-1.

Resources for Safe Practices

  • Abusive Head Trauma Prevention

    Babies cry! Have a plan for all who care for babies.

  • Breastfeeding in Child Care

    Human milk is the developmentally appropriate food for infants. Child care programs should be trained to prepare and serve human milk and advocate for breastfeeding mothers.

  • Child Care Provider Manual (PDF)PDF

    This guide is a great health and safety resource for child care professionals to review to find important information regarding the health and safety information for children in child care.

  • Safe Sleep (PDF)PDF

    Learn the importance of safe sleep practices for child care programs.

  • Choose Safe Places

    Idaho's Choose Safe Places Program (CSP) helps ensure that early care and education programs are in safe places, so that children aren't exposed to dangerous chemicals during their care.

  • National Health and Safety Performance Standards

    Caring for Our Children is a collection of national standards that represent the best practices, based on evidence, expertise, and experience, for quality health and safety policies and practices for today’s early care and education settings.

  • Emergency PreparednessPDF

    Child care programs must be prepared for potential disasters. Every child care program should have a clearly outlined emergency and disaster plan. All program staff should be trained in emergency preparedness and prepared to respond during a disaster. Download the YIKES Planning Guide (PDF)PDF and the YIKES Planning Guide Addendum (PDF)PDF.

Find out more about health and safety in child care by visiting the Help section in RISE.