Nursery Policies

Every child's welfare is important to us while they are in our care. It is our priority to make the nursery a safe and nurturing place for each child. It is the responsibility of all nursery worker's to convey God's love.

Guidelines

In order to carry out the purpose of these policies, Nursery workers are to follow these guidelines:

1. All primary Nursery workers are required to take a certified CPR/First Aid course at the church's expense. Volunteer workers do not fall under this category.
2. Broken toys, furniture, and equipment should be removed out of the children's reach and reported to the Nursery Director.
3. All injuries and incidents, no matter how minor, should be documented on an incident report and given to the parents and be placed in a file. Paid workers are to fill out the incident reports.
4. All children are required to be registered in the permanent file, and signed-in on the log sheet upon arrival to each church event.
5. Children are to be released to their parents or authorized individuals who are written down on the child's information sheet with prior permission from the parent.
6. Pagers are required to be handed in when a child is released. No person without a pager may pick up a child.
7. Children above the age of 3 are not permitted in the Nursery unless the church is having a special event.
8. There should be no more than 3 infants to one worker.
9. A nursery worker may work alone in the Nursery as long as the number of children does not exceed the ratio guidelines found in the Nursery Job Description and that the Nursery worker is not alone in the church.
10. The Nursery is to be opened 15 minutes before service or church function is to start and it will be closed 15 minutes after the service or function ended.
11. Nursery scheduling is the responsibility of the Nursery Director. It is the Nursery Director's responsibility to secure the proper staff (paid workers and volunteers) for Worship Services and Functions requiring childcare. The Nursery Director will send out an e-mail list each month of the schedule and call volunteers two days before they are supposed to be in the nursery. However, if a volunteer is unable to cover a shift, it is their responsibility to find a substitute from the approved list to fill in for them. Please notify the Nursery Director by phone about any changes in the schedule. The same policy applies to paid workers.
12. No adults or children may be present in the nursery at any time other than nursery workers, infants and toddlers being cared for, and parents who are picking up a child. No other adults may be present in the nursery at any time without approval of the Nursery Director.
13. No adults (except a nursery worker) may be alone with any child in the nursery or any other non-public area at any time. No nursery worker may be alone with a child in the nursery with the door closed.

Health Policies

To provide and maintain a healthy environment for both children and Nursery workers. Guidelines: In order to carry out the purpose of these policies, Nursery workers should do the following while caring for the children in the Nursery.

1. Spray all of the toys with with anti-germicidal spray before any children arrive.
2. Wear disposable gloves when handling any bodily fluids.
3. Dispose of soiled diapers in trash bags immediately following a diaper change.
4. Sanitize changing area after each child.
5. Sanitize your hands after changing each child.
6. Sanitize all toys and furniture in Nursery after each use.
7. Place used crib sheets in hamper after each child. Replace them with clean sheets ready to use for the next stay in the nursery.
8. Place any soiled clothes in a bag and return them to the parents for washing.
9. Wash hands after every clean up and handling food.
10. If a child has had a fever or vomiting and or diarrhea in the past 24 hours they may not come into the nursery. If a child develops a fever or other symptoms of illness or discomfort while in the nursery, notify the parent and ask that the child to be taken home for the day.

Behavioral Policies

1. If a child can not be consoled within 15-20 minutes and after all reasonable efforts are exhausted, notify the parent and ask that the child be taken to the cry-room accompanied by the parent.
2. If a child is displaying inappropriate behaviors such as:
   • Using material inappropriately (i.e. throwing toys,etc).
   • Not obeying
   • Physical aggression (hitting, kicking, biting, etc.)
   The consequences are:
   • Reminder of the rules and appropriate behavior
   • Time out, one minute for every age of the child
   • If we are not able to change the behavior we will contact the parent to speak to the child.
   • If the above consequences are not effective in severe cases (i.e. biting) the parent will be paged to pick up their child.
3. If a child is bit:
   • The parent of the child who is bitten will receive an incident report
   • The parent of the child who bit will receive and incident report
   • If the skin is not broken the biter can assist the worker in the first aid process to learn "gentle touching" by rubbing the child who has been bitten's arm.
   • The child who bit will be shadowed to anticipate biting that may take place.
   • An article that has been written will be given to each parent that explains why children bite.