Child Care Rating

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Shaunna Kiser has been sending her son to Learning Adventures Child Development Center for almost two years, but not before doing plenty of research.

"Such as the internet, asking around to other parents, asking people I know who have been in the child care facilities, the industry itself," said Kiser.

Now, parents have another tool at their fingertips. It's a new tab on the Department of Human Services child care providers map online, where you can search daycares by county and even by zip code. The tab is called "compliance history" and it lists any violations the daycare has had during unannounced inspections.

Learning Adventures owner Rachel Layton said it's a good idea:

"I provide cameras for my parents. I provide as much transparency as possible, but still, I just think it's important for parents to know what goes wrong and how we correct it," said Layton.

But Layton and Kiser both think the site could be improved. That's because there's no way for parents to tell how serious the violations are.

"For example, somebody gets arrested for a crime, there's a difference in severity, there's levels. So I do feel that there should be some sort of a rating system," said Kiser.

"I think understanding violations is really gonna be the key to understanding the system. And I think not having that education might just create a lot of insecurity right now with both the provider and the parent," said Layton.

Although the site might not be perfect, Layton and Kiser said it's a big step in the right direction because the more information available to parents, the better.