Quality care means that you think carefully about what you want to achieve in terms of the improvement of quality. It means making plans, checking whether things are going well and continuing to improve. For a childcare centre, this means that the operator:

• Establishes the quality objectives in the pedagogical and educational policy plan. This should also include a plan of approach and schedule for the achievement of the objectives, as well as their periodic evaluation.
• Works, step by step, on the implementation and improvement of the pedagogical and educational policy, the health and safety policy and the organisational policy. This is done in the cycle of policy development, implementation and application, evaluation and monitoring, and renewal. The aim is to ensure that the childcare centre continuously improves its performance.
• Ensures that the agreements set out in the policy are actually implemented. For example, by regularly checking in with the groups to see if everything is going well and/or by conducting evaluations with the team.

*A host parent works on the implementation and improvement of the pedagogical and educational policy, as well as the health and safety policy. A host parent is not required to have quality objectives or a quality plan of approach.

A professional quality culture means continuing to learn and improve together. The operator provides for:

• Clear agreements about who does what: who has which tasks, roles and responsibilities.
• A safe and professional working environment where people are eager to learn and become better in their work.
• A competency policy that gives employees the opportunity to develop and learn new things, so that they remain good at their jobs.

*A host parent also works on the improvement of the quality of childcare and receives assistance from Sentro Akseso if necessary.

The operator or host parent ensures that parents and employees are well informed. They receive information about:

• The policy applicable at the childcare location, including at least the health and safety policy and the pedagogical and educational policy.
• The inspection report. This report must be available on the website of the childcare organisation as soon as possible and must be easy to find. If the childcare organisation does not have a website then the report must be available in a place where parents and staff can easily read it.

Each childcare centre must have a clear procedure for dealing with complaints from parents about the childcare agreement or the behavior of the operator or staff. The operator must:

• Bonaire: Establish the complaints procedure in the pedagogical policy plan. Parents must be clearly informed of what to do if they have a complaint. The complaints procedure must therefore be included in the agreement with the parents. The complaints procedure must also be clearly displayed at the childcare location.
• Saba and Statia: Establish the complaints procedure and share it with parents.
• Describe in the complaints procedure:
  • How a complaint is received, investigated and assessed.
  • How a decision is made about the complaint.
  • How to ensure that the measures are being implemented.
• Ensure that complaints are investigated carefully and fairly. Anyone involved in handling a complaint must not be involved in the complaint itself.
• Keep the complainant well informed about the receipt of the complaint, the expected timeframe, the possibility of a meeting with the operator, the progress of the investigation, the outcome and the decision with an explanation.
• Parents can contact the following organisations for independent advice, assistance or mediation in the event of complaints:
  • On Bonaire: Sentro Akseso (717 7300)
  • On St. Eustatius: the Public Entity, Social Domain Directorate.
  • On Saba: the Public Entity, Community Development & Culture Department

*A complaints procedures is not mandatory for host parents.

If more than 50 children are cared for in the childcare centre, there must be a parent committee. This committee contributes ideas about how the childcare centre is organised. The operator:

• Establishes a set of rules within six months after receiving the permit. These regulations must include at least:
  • How many members there are.
  • How members are elected.
  • How long they remain a member.

  These regulations can be amended at a later date with the consent of the parent committee. The parent committee determines its own working method.

• Gives parents the opportunity to become members of the parent committee. Employees of the childcare centre are not allowed to be members.
• Asks the parent committee for advice on educational policy, nutrition, upbringing, health and safety, opening hours and changes to the complaints procedure. The parent committee can also give advice without being asked to do so by the operator.
• Consults with the parent committee at least once a year about current and future pedagogical policy.
• Provides all information required by the parent committee in writing.
• Deviates from the advice of the parent committee only in writing and with proper justification.

If the childcare centre has made a genuine effort but has been unable to set up a parent committee, then another form of parental involvement is also acceptable.

*Smaller childcare centres and host parents are not required to set up a parent committee.