Whether it’s school or work, a busy schedule often means parents have to seek child care services, but many agree that it’s not easy trusting someone else with their children.

“There’s just too many stories you see on the news and it’s too scary.” says Chasity Touchet of Abbeville as she bounces her baby boy on her knee.

She says family members make the best babysitters “because you’ve been around them yourself and you know how they treat their kids…how they’re raised and you want that with your children, how you’re raised and how your family is raised.”

Ferral Francis echoes Touchet’s concerns but says sometimes family members are not available. “That’s the hardest thing ever. I mean a lot of people have to go to work, so you have to take chances but at the same time it’s hard to trust anyone…you get butterflies, it’s like, ah! I don’t want to leave them but you know you have to go.”

Amy Broussard, executive director of the Woman’s Foundation in Lafayette says it’s important for everyone to know the basics of child care.  That’s why they offer the Safe Sitter program.  The class teaches 11 through 16 year olds those skills, including infant and child CPR, how to prevent problem behavior and how to act in emergency situations. “They can jump into action really quickly and become effective.  Just acting with confidence soon, that could be a game changer, that could save someone’s life whether it’s in a babysitting situation or a social setting.”

But the most important lesson of all- “When you accept a job to baby sit you are accepting responsibility of a person’s life,” says Broussard.