New child-care law in effect

Kim Banks isn’t among the dozens of Coeur d’Alene day-care providers scrambling to get fingerprinted and certified by city officials this week.

Banks, 38, who tends as many as a dozen children in her Pine Hills area home, long has abided by strict standards that became mandatory for all city day-care employees this month. She’s certified in CPR and first aid, well-versed in continuing education courses and vigilant about criminal history checks for herself – and others in her household.

“My husband had already been background-checked,” said Banks, a nine-year veteran whose clients range in age from 18 months to 10 years.

For other child-care workers – and the city staff responsible for certifying them – the new regulations approved in October and enacted Jan. 1 have meant a flurry of activity aimed at making day-care homes and small centers safer for children and more accountable to families.

Kathy Lewis, Coeur d’Alene’s deputy city clerk, counted 110 fingerprinted cards in a file drawer Monday, all applications from day-care employees awaiting certification.

“It’s been overwhelming so far,” she said. “But it’s well worth it. We just want to ensure the safety of these children.”

Meanwhile, the license of the Coeur d’Alene day-care center that helped spark the changes has remained intact, Lewis said. Misty Krous, who operates the Happy Days Child Care Center, has notified parents that her husband, Stephen Christopher Krous, is a registered sex offender and that he has been barred from the premises.

“He has been informed now that he can’t even go to the mailbox,” Lewis said.

That satisfies the new city law that requires day-care owners to notify parents and the public if a spouse or any other immediate family member is a sex offender, Lewis said.

Allegations that Krous tried to entice a 3-year-old girl at the day care with a lollipop in July were dismissed for lack of evidence, Kootenai County prosecutors said. Krous was convicted in 2001 of fondling an 11-year-old girl who stayed overnight at the couple’s home. After the incident, state officials revoked Misty Krous’ license for Loving Hands Day Care, which she ran out of the couple’s former Post Falls residence.

A woman who answered the phone Monday at the Happy Days Child Care Center said that Misty Krous was not there, but that the business was operating.

In addition to notification of sex offenders, the new city law also requires all day-care workers, not just owners, to get $5 licenses from the city and to renew them each year. The licenses will certify that the employee has had a background check, completed continuing education courses and been certified in CPR and first aid.

So far, no day-care employee who has applied for a city license has failed the $40 criminal background check, Lewis said.

The check screens for felonies and serious crimes against children, she said. If a day-care worker fails the check, city officials will allow 24 hours before they notify the employer.

“If they don’t qualify, they can’t be on the premises,” Lewis said.

The changes strengthen Coeur d’Alene’s day-care regulations, which already were among the toughest in the state. Idaho rules require that day-care centers with 13 or more children must pass health, safety and background inspections, but the same criteria don’t apply to businesses with fewer kids.

Several Coeur d’Alene day-care operators said Monday that it won’t be hard to comply with the new law.

“It really didn’t change what we do, except that people have the cards,” said Deb Danforth, 49, owner of Little Folks Preschool and Kindergarten.

Danforth, who employs 16 workers to care for 75 children from infancy to kindergarten, said she welcomes stricter licensing and more notification when a sex offender is present.

“What really needs to happen in Idaho is that the whole state needs to get on this same song page,” she said. “All homes, all centers, no matter how many children they have, need background checks of all staff.”

Providers said many of the parents whose kids they care for aren’t aware of the details of the new law. “We didn’t notice a whole lot of fear from our parents,” Banks said. “They know us so well that it wasn’t an issue.”

But Katrina Walker, a 36-year-old mother of boys ages 2 and 4, said greater scrutiny can only bolster parents’ peace of mind. Her sons attend Kootenai Medical Center’s day-care program, but they were previously enrolled in private home care.

“It goes against every instinct that you have to leave your kids anyway,” Walker said. “It can be such a scary situation, so I would think for any parent, it’s the stricter, the better.”