Say 'Yes' to a Mandatory Background Check for Childcare Providers

Whenever as a result of someone's negligence or oversight a child gets hurt, I lose my cool. I just can't stand it when innocent children are victimized. Let me tell you, lately I've been freaking out a lot.

Take this news story from North Dakota. A bill that would require a mandatory background check for every childcare employee failed in the House 46-47 (it required 48 votes). The Senate approved the bill 45-2. So, the House doesn't want our children protected and safe?

Thankfully, one of the two Reps who withheld their votes, the Democrat, plans to petition for the House to reconsider its decision. He simply found the language too "convoluted" and misunderstood its meaning, and supports it now that he took a closer look. You'd think he would have learned to decipher legalese before making it into the House of Representatives! At least he "certainly wouldn't want to be in the way of children being safe." Nice of him, isn't it?

But he actually is a nice one. The other naysayer, the Republican Rep said he found the idea of a mandatory background check too intrusive. Imagine that! What happened to family values and the idea of no child left behind? Or does that one only apply to cutting school funding? The man doesn't believe we should ask some straightforward questions of the people who spend more time with these children than their own parents? Does he have children in daycare? Not likely. And hopefully it won't matter when the House reviews and reconsiders its decision as it is expected to do. I sure hope it does. Here's to the mighty background check protecting every child in North Dakota and everywhere else!