On July 1, 2003 the Office of Child Care launched the Baby Steps to Quality Infant-Toddler Care Project, the Baby Steps Project for short. The goals of the project are to increase the overall quality of center-based infant-toddler child care and to help centers maintain the services they now provide. Due to high staff costs and the financial difficulties of providing infant care, few centers have the resources to increase quality, which requires training staff and setting up a safe and stimulating environment. This project provides centers with financial assistance and an incentive to work towards increasing and maintaining quality over an extended time period. The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale – Revised (ITERS-R) will be used to set goals and measure progress.
