Law came after 14-month-old smothered to death earlier this year.
By LAHAV HARKOVUpdated: DECEMBER 24, 2018 21:41A daycare in Israel(photo credit: Zoog Productions)
Daycare centers will have to install security cameras next school year, according to a law passed in a final vote in the Knesset Monday.Kulanu MK Yifat Shasha-Bitton proposed the law after an aide at a Petah Tikva daycare center allegedly smothered a 14-month-old to death, and the aide has been charged with abusing other infants, as well.The law will go into effect on September 1, 2019, and for the following year, the government will subsidize the installation of cameras. From September 2020, all daycare center will be required to have a camera in order to be licensed.Exceptions will be made for daycares in private homes or cases in which over 70% of the parents whose children attend the daycare do not agree for there to be a camera.“Cameras documenting the care of the helpless toddlers could be used for deterrence, monitoring and enforcement,” the law’s explanatory portion reads. “Installing cameras is meant to meet three central goals: Deterring harm to toddlers, finding cases of harm and using the documentation to investigate and enforce the law.”Shasha-Biton, the chairwoman of the Knesset Committee for the Rights of Children, said it is a privilege to be able to pass the law before the Knesset is dissolved ahead of April’s election.“This is the beginning of a revolution. Not long ago, frameworks for ages birth until three were totally lawless. This law complements the law to supervise [daycare centers] and these two laws are starting the process of regulation for the personal security of our children,” she said.
