Daycare Scanners

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MACON, Miss. (WCBI)- Finger print scanning was once reserved for criminals and secret service agents. Now, the State of Mississippi wants to add some toddlers to that list.

That’s because the State of Mississippi does not have any way of making sure the children who receive federal voucher money are really attending class.

Gloria Jones is the Director of Happy State Learning Center in Macon, MS.  She says the state’s plan to adopt finger print scanners for children at day care centers only adds to the stress many child care providers are already facing with the department of human services.

“We have one child that has been in our program and in our care since the month of March.  We have not yet gotten that issue resolved,” says Gloria.

The scanners will be used to track kids who receive federal subsidies.  Officials with the Department of Human Services say the scanners will help save money.  Jones believes that it will only add to a list of problems providers have with Department of Human Services.

“It’s been hectic. You have to spend hours on the phone. You may get an issue resolved, you may not get it resolved.

It’s very time consuming, where I could be allocating that time to care for the children, I’ve got to sit down and get this act of the program resolved. It is very, very nervewracking.”

Gabrielle Ballard’s 3 year old son attends Happy State Learning Center. She says having a child scan their fingers may be extreme.

“There’s nothing that a child can do in the facility that would hurt the facility or anything like that so there’s no need for scanning fingers.”

In the end, Gloria says state officials need to fix what is already broken before adding more to the plate of child care workers.

In 2010, Louisiana adopted the scanning system. Figures show the number of children getting vouchers in the state fell more than 30% since the program began.