The number of children who died in licensed child care facilities is nearly the same as the number who died in unlicensed care. Still, a report from the Kansas Attorney General’s State Child Death Review Board recommends repealing a law that permits unlicensed childcare in limited situations.
According to a recent report from the Kansas Attorney General’s State Child Death Review Board — which issues its findings annually — the child death rate dropped about 7.5% in 2023, although Kansas continues to exceed the national rate.
Data for 2023 shows that 361 children under the age of 18 died in Kansas — down from 389 in 2022.
In 2023, Kansas had a child death rate of 52 per 100,000 residents — down from 56.3 in 2022. The national average is 49.8 per 100,000.
The report criticizes a state law that allows residents to care for up to four unrelated children in their home without a day care license, and suggests it be repealed.
Passed earlier this year, the law would have had no effect on the current child death rate.
Moreover, between 2019 and 2023, only 16 children died while in the care of another. Of them, nine were at unlicensed child care facilities and seven were in the care of a licensed provider.
Of the seven who died at a licensed day care, two were in the care of someone who was in violation of their license, and one of the children was a resident of the facility.
Of the 16, the report found:
- 88% were under the age of 1
- 81% (13) of the deaths occurred when the infant or child was sleeping
- Eight occurred in an unlicensed child care location, all had one or more unsafe sleep factors
- Two occurred in a licensed childcare location that was in violation of license requirements and had one or more unsafe sleep factors present
- 19% (3) were not sleep-related
- Two were ages 1-4, and one was an infant
- One death was a result of child abuse
State Representative Sean Tarwater (R-Stillwell), who helped author HB 2045, took issue with the report’s suggestion that his childcare bill be repealed.
He said the bill was carefully crafted to allow, for example, a parent to ask a neighbor to watch their children and pay them for it.
“Before that bill, it was illegal to pay your neighbor to watch your kids for any amount of time,” Tarwater said. “The one thing that I wanted to make sure of was that we were going to allow parents the freedom to choose somebody to watch their kids for them.”
As of July 1 of this year, someone can watch up to four unrelated children in their home — no more than two of them infants — for no more than 35 hours a week without having to undergo the somewhat onerous licensing requirements.
Tarwater also reiterated that overall, child deaths in Kansas are down.
“We’re going in the right direction,” he said. “You know, there’s much fewer this year than there were in the previous year. So we’re working in the right direction now that parents can actually have their neighbors do it, maybe we’ll even take another step and reduce the number of childcare deaths even next year.”
Tarwater noted that the impetus for the bill was to reduce exorbitant childcare costs — and expand the limited number of slots available.
“One of the biggest issues for the workforce is daycare and childcare,” Tarwater said. “You know, you got these stay-at-home moms that are looking for things to do, they can’t really go to work because of daycare costs. So now maybe they’re going to be the ones that … watch their neighbor’s kids.”