GREENVILLE--Proposed day-care facility rules could raise costs for parents while reducing the number of children each worker has to supervise.

Under pressure from day-care operators, the Department of Social Services backed off a proposal to reduce the number of children that could be in a single room to 10 from 15. DSS still wants the staff-to-child ratio lowered to 1-to-5 from the current 1-to-6.

That likely would increase rates, said Edith Everette, the director of Rainbow Day Care Center in Greenville and a member of the South Carolina Child Care Association's executive board.

"And right now with the economy the way it is, I don't know if (parents) can work that into their budgets," she said.

Some parents want more. Dropping the ratio isn't enough, says Shannon Humphries, mother of a 17-month-old daughter. The state could drop it "to 1-in-5 all day, and it does not matter if it doesn't get enforced," she said. She recalls picking up her child once and discovering a worker watching 12 babies.

"The teachers cannot watch that many babies at once," Humphries said, "and they certainly cannot interact with that many babies much."

Other measures, including requiring reports of any injuries that demand professional treatment and giving parents access to their children at any time, could add to the expenses.

Those are some of the changes DSS is reviewing as part of proposed regulations the General Assembly would be asked to approve.

"There's almost a conspiracy-type move, not just in our state but across the country, to make regulations so oppressive that the cost of operating goes up so high that the center can no longer afford to provide the care because parents can't afford the cost," said Reece Yandle, executive director of the South Carolina Association of Christian Schools.

DSS considered, then dropped, a proposal that day-care workers be suspended when allegations of abuse are made, said Helen Lebby, assistant director for child care licensing.

Parents get upset for "one reason or another" and "sometimes they cause problems just for pure spite," Yandle said.

"And when you have to suspend someone just because anyone alleges child abuse, this kind of violates the principle in our country of innocent until proven guilty."