McKenna attends one of the few early child-care centers in Southwest Florida that offers a Web site allowing parents to look in on their children using the Internet.
"It's a way to connect with your child, even though you have to work full time," O'Neil said. "Even though there's no volume, it's almost like you are there watching them."
O'Neil and and his wife, Rebecca, an occupational therapist, moved to the region about a year ago, leaving their extended family and friends behind in Georgia.
"We have zero family here. No one. So child care was really important," O'Neil said. "We didn't have Grandpa and Grandma to drop the kids off with."
More and more American families have come to rely on two incomes, forcing them to entrust strangers with the care of their children. This reality, coupled with that of the cyber-age -- online sex offender registries, real and virtual child pornography and recurring chat-room vice raids being played out on the nightly news -- has led many parents to demand more in the way of assurances.
Nationwide, hundreds of early child-care centers have installed the cameras and used them as a selling point for parents -- something experts say eases separation anxiety, discourages perpetrators and allows parents to remain involved in their children's development.
A growing number of elementary and high schools are ramping up intranet sites -- internal, restricted-access networks -- for the same reason and increasing surveillance levels to better ensure student and staff safety.
"I look in on her every day. Checking on her progress, making sure things are going well," O'Neil said. "The thing I like about it is that it has an educational platform; it's not just a baby-sitting service."
"We did it actually because my husband, who was an IT specialist, was working in Fort Myers. As a parent, he wanted to see what was going on," Stephanie Young said. "And he thought, 'If I'm enjoying it this much, other parents will too.'"
"It just keeps everybody honest and following the rules," she said. "Sometimes it's a little stressful because you are being watched all the time -- but if you are following the rules, there is nothing to worry about."
In Southwest Florida, there is a shortage of accredited child care, with existing centers maintaining waiting lists. Consequently, there hasn't been the competitive necessity to install webcams.
"We don't need parents constantly looking in to do our jobs," said Gabriella Nemerson, owner of the The Child Unique Academy in Port Charlotte.
Nemerson already has security cameras installed, conducts background checks and maintains an open-door policy. But, she says, webcams invite parental drama, specifically when parents take incidents out of context. Cameras do not give a 360-degree view of the room, and parents often look in periodically.
"I don't have a problem with parents coming in anytime they want. It's about how they might process what they see on a camera that I have no control over," Nemerson said. "Will parents looking in understand that some children have good days and that some children have bad days?"
"No matter how good of a provider you are, we live in fear of being sued," Nemerson said. "Why would you want to open yourself up to that liability?"
"Every piece of information you get is out of context," Folse said. "At all levels of education, all kinds of things go on at schools, and they need to be held more accountable. The cameras hold people accountable.
"You drop your kids off. They take them into a room and close the door. They tell you that education is going on behind that closed door. But you don't really know that. The cameras help parents look behind that door."
"There's a joke: When I was a kid, I ate white bread, I built a go-cart that had no brakes, I rode my bike without a helmet, and I even ran with scissors a few times. But I survived -- somehow."
Sociologically speaking, people will not know for another decade or so whether any of the precautions they are taking today have done any good, Folse said.
Parents are simply reacting to real threats -- many of which they were previously unaware of, said Judy Steiner, a Venice-based licensed mental health counselor.
"In today's society, most parents have to work," Steiner said. "The reality is that kids are being molested and abused. Parents are more aware of that now. Parents are wanting to be more proactive in regards to their children."
Unger has sold equipment and maintains Web sites for about nine day-care centers on the West Coast and said the majority of corporate day-care centers maintain their own webcams in-house.
"There was a time when it was not financially feasible -- the equipment was really expensive, so day cares weren't doing it. But the technology has gotten a lot cheaper," he said.
"There are cameras in the workplace, elevators, at street lights. More and more of what we do in the public domain is being captured on camera."
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