DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Maternal and Child Health Bureau

Health Resources and Services

Administration

Rockville MD 20857

Dear Colleague:

The Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) is pleased to present Stepping Stones to Using Caring for Our Children, 2nd Edition. The second edition of Stepping Stones was developed from the comprehensive document Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care Programs, 2nd Ed. to identify those standards most needed to prevent disease, disability and death in child care settings.

The goal of this document is to support State licensing and regulatory agencies, public and private child care entities, parents, health care professionals and organizations, resource and referral agencies, and early care and education advocacy groups in their efforts to achieve improved health and safety in child care.

Under a 5 year cooperative agreement awarded to the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care (NRC), HRSA's MCHB supported NRC to develop the second edition of Stepping Stones. Stepping Stones and Caring for Our Children are both available on the NRC web site, http://nrckids.org.

Staff and I encourage you to continue to use Caring for Our Children, 2nd Edition as the comprehensive resource document it is intended to be. MCHB hopes you will find Stepping Stones, 2nd Ed. to be a valuable resource in developing policies and regulations, particularly as you plan and provide for the health and safety of children in child care settings.

Sincerely yours,

Peter C. van Dyck, M.D., M.P.H.

Associate Administrator for Maternal

and Child Health