Child Care Workers

The City Council voted unanimously to spend $250,000 to boost the wages of those who provide child care for agencies under contract with the city. "This will have a dramatic impact on the quality of child care," Councilman Scott Kennedy said. Santa Cruz passed a living wage law in October, requiring that workers with city contractors be paid $11 an hour, or $12 an hour if the position does not offer benefits.

Child-care centers are losing well-educated teachers and administrators and hiring less qualified replacements, according to a study being released today. The California-based study also reports that salaries for child-care teachers, which average about $24,600 a year, have fallen in the last six years when adjusted for inflation. "The child-care work force is very unstable," said Marcy Whitebrook, a researcher at UC Berkeley who conducted the study. "It creates a climate of chaos."

With no health benefits and salaries slightly over poverty level, child-care workers in the Granite State decided to mobilize as a political bloc. Now these unlikely rebels have grabbed the ear of the governor--not to mention a state legislator who runs five day-care centers. For months, dozens of early childhood teachers have staked out the capitol. They buttonhole legislators and lobby them with the goal of state-sponsored benefits.

After years of touting tough policies to prosecute juvenile offenders, a group of California law enforcement officials now says that quality child care and early education are among the most powerful weapons against crime. In a report to be released today, the group asserts that California is in a child-care crisis that could ultimately place families at greater risk of becoming crime victims.

Re "Nuns' Vow Is a Matter of Survival," Oct. 10: While I do appreciate the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in St. Louis, as one of the 490 sisters of St. Joseph in the Los Angeles Province, I question why The Times would choose to write about our sisters there, when you have the same order here in Los Angeles. As the largest order in the Los Angeles Archdiocese we celebrate our 350 years of ministry in education, health care and social work and face the challenge of how we are to meet the needs of tomorrow.

An extensive study has found an urgent need for more licensed child care throughout Los Angeles County and revealed that only a handful of in-home programs and day-care centers are accredited, suggesting that some children may not be receiving the brain-stimulating experiences they need for healthy development.

An extensive study has found an urgent need for more licensed child care throughout Los Angeles County--and revealed that only a handful of in-home programs and day-care centers are accredited, suggesting some children may not be receiving the brain-stimulating experiences they need for healthy development.

They wear sneakers and jeans to work, "do meetings" over crayons and finger-paint, and count hugs and time at the park among their employee benefits. But don't be fooled by the apparently laid-back pace of their work: 31-year-old Sheila Sarchioni Farrell of Arlington, Mass., and 27-year-old Julie Piava of Los Angeles consider themselves professionals. And they have the education, the commitment to their field and even the pay to prove it. Farrell and Piava are nannies.