Child Care Administration

The firm that took over two troubled day care centers is making substantial improvements since the previous owner decided to sell out rather than continue fighting state regulators who were seeking to shut down one and considering action against the other.The new owners of Wee Care Children's Centers, the national chain of Children's Discovery Centers, are spending $40,000 to $50,000 to bring both centers up to code. They are replacing equipment, painting, laying down new carpet and making other changes.

A 2-year-old girl drowned yesterday morning in a pool at a home day care facility in Parkville, prompting state officials to suspend the license of the day care provider, authorities said. Tashear Alston of Curtis Bay was discovered floating in the pool about 9 a.m. by her day care provider in the 8600 block of Oakleigh Road, said Sgt. Vickie Warehime, a county police spokeswoman. The girl was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, Warehime said. The girl, who would have turned 3 next month, apparently followed another child who opened the gate to the fenced area around the pool to let out a cat, Warehime said.

In a finding with national implications, Maryland's medical examiner ruled yesterday that two baby boys who died in a Stevensville day care provider's home accidentally suffocated.Dr. John E. Smialek said that a quilt had been placed near the infants' heads to protect them from falling out of a double bed. But the babies apparently moved enough to cause the blanket to fall on them and cover their upper bodies.Accidental suffocation is a slow death that occurs over several minutes, one that Americans recognized in babies as long as a century ago but have ignored in recent years.

The town of Bel Air has hired two part-time parking garage attendants in its latest effort to convince people to park their cars in the year-old garage.The attendants will work during morning and lunch hours to acquaint motorists with the garage and help them learn to use the parking meter system.Bel Air Mayor Susan K. McComas said the attendants should "make the garage more user-friendly."The parking garage has suffered lowusage since it opened in the summer of 1990. Lack of parkers has been blamed by some on the meter system, which requires a motorist to park the car, walk to a meter located on a garage wall, insert coins, and walk back to the car to put a receipt on the windshield.

UH, OH," said my friend, pausing as she entered the room. "Crutches in the corner, a 'Get Well Soon' balloon limping around the air conditioning duct, Q-tips stuck in your hair. Who's on the disabled list?"Before I could respond, a feeble cry from the living room interrupted. "Bon," called my husband. "I can't find the television remote. And I could use some orange juice, if you don't mind. I hate to bother you again.""What happened?" she asked, deftly removing the carton of Tropicana from my hand as I took careful aim in the general direction of the sofa.

Railway museum to offer summer youth programs The Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum will present "Summer Fun" programs for children of various age groups on Thursdays through Aug. 12. The museum is at 4155 Mears Ave., Chesapeake Beach. Groups larger than five people must call in advance. Each program will include light refreshments and activities to take home. Children can enjoy poems, songs, stories and games that celebrate the days of railroading and early resort life in Chesapeake Beach.

ANNAPOLIS -- Most of a $5.3 million federal grant received by the state in April to subsidize day-care costs for low-income families became available to eligible Marylanders at the beginning of this month, according to Department of Human Resources officials.The officials said they had been forced to delay spending the money until the start of Maryland's 1992 fiscal year, July 1, because of a federal stipulation that it be used to supplement, not supplant, state funds not available before then.

When Mary Zaleski had trouble finding day care for her four children about three years ago, she quit her job managing a toy store and went into the day-care business full time.These days, she watches five children in her Rosedale town house. As word got around the neighborhood that she was offering the service, she found herself more and more in demand.Two families are on her waiting list. A third mother says she is not likely to give birth until a space opens up in Mrs. Zaleski's home, which is licensed by the state and inspected annually by a county fire official.

The current effort by a small group of fundamentalist religious leaders to exempt their child care and nursery programs from all state health and safety regulations is a mistake. If legislation sponsored by Sen. Larry Haines, R-Carroll, should pass, there would be a set of health and safety rules for all non-religious child care programs and none for church-sponsored programs. Such a division would be a prescription for trouble, and a return to the inconsistent child care regulatory situation that existed prior to 1989.

An administrative law judge closed a day care center near Westminster yesterday, upholding a state agency's decision to suspend the center's license in the midst of a child sexual abuse investigation, state officials said. After a two-day hearing last week, Judge Alan B. Jacobson ruled yesterday that the emergency suspension of Rainbows and Reasons' day care license will stand, said Norris West, a spokesman with the state Department of Human Resources, which licenses day care facilities.