| |
Family Child Care Systems
Brief Overview
The Child Welfare League of America's Standards of Excellence for Child Care, Development, and Education Services defines a family child care system as a formal network that supports "providers by offering training, technical assistance, monitoring, and other supports such as equipment purchasing plans, substitute alternatives for the child when the provider is ill, and access to child care food programs." Central administrative functions including the enrollment of children are the responsibility of the system. A contractual relationship exists between the family child care provider and the agency operating the system.
A December, 1994 General Accounting Office (GAO) report, CHILD CARE: Promoting Quality in Family Child Care, reports that "the demand for family child care is expected to grow given the welfare reform proposals that include education or job training requirements for more mothers of children receiving AFDC." The report cites the recent Families and Work Institute's The Study of Children in Family Child Care and Relative Care completed in 1994, which documents that a significant number of providers were giving inadequate care. The GAO report also cites other research that shows that quality child care is particularly important to poor children. A 1991 Child Trends study found that children in families on AFDC are nearly one-third more likely to suffer either from delays in growth and development, a significant emotional or behavioral problem, or a learning disability and have a greater need for more comprehensive and higher quality services than other children.
Families and Work Institute study found "that characteristics of quality go together". Providers are more likely to be rated as having higher global quality scores when they "seek out the company of others who are providing care and are more involved with other providers." One of the study's recommendations is for communities to explore the potential for developing family child care systems, with family child care homes as satellites to child care centers and other community agencies.
The Carnegie Corporation's Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children indicated that most family child care providers function in almost total isolation. They have little opportunity to share ideas, learn new skills, or receive support. One of the study's recommendations is to help establish networks that can end provider isolation and provide facilities, resources, and materials for professional development.
Graham-Windham Services to Families and Children, a comprehensive child welfare agency in New York City, operates a family day care system for about 400 children in approximately 100 family child care homes. The service is offered on a sliding fee scale and is supported by subsidies from NYC's Administration for Child Development (ACD). Children are enrolled in the Graham-Windham program, who administers the required paperwork and enrollment/certification process. The children are provided care in the home of an experienced day care provider, frequently a mother with children of her own, in a location close to the family's own neighborhood. Up to six children, if all are over two years of age, may be cared for in a provider's home. Providers may also care for independent children who are private pay and are not enrolled in or receive support from the agency's system staff.
Family child care providers are visited on a monthly basis by the agency's system staff to see that the homes are kept safe and are adequately equipped to care for children. The system staff support the family day care providers through workshops and individualized training on subjects such as nutrition, child development, health and safety issues, child abuse and neglect, and behavior management which are offered throughout the year. In New York City, family child care providers are required to receive 15 hours of training in their first year and then 15 hours of training in subsequent two-year periods.
Another example of a family child care system is operated by South Shore Day Care Services, another CWLA member agency, located in Weymouth, Massachusetts. It is a comprehensive child care agency operating several child care centers and school-age child care programs, a summer camp for school-age children, and a family child care system. The system serves 75 children in 18 family day care homes. As a provider of comprehensive child care services, South Shore Day Care Services offers families with several children of different ages, an opportunity of choices and an opportunity for the children to be cared for by one agency. The agency also provides a continuity of services to families as their children get older and their needs change.
The children are enrolled in the South Shore Day Care family child care system. The system staff are responsible for the enrollment process which may include obtaining subsidies for eligible low-income or AFDC families. The system staff try to match the child to an appropriate provider, who is licensed by the state licensing agency. Parents are given several choices of providers if space is available. Children are enrolled with the agency and the agency contracts with the family day care provider to provide the care. The providers are not limited to serve only children from the system. They can care for other children with no connection to the agency.
The system staff make weekly visits to each provider to monitor the activities in the home, to answer questions, to provide support, and in some cases, to provide substitute care so the provider can leave the home for a short period of time. During the visits, the system staff get to know each child in the home and provide support to each family as needed. The staff can also act as a liaison between parent and provider. The visits also end the isolation of being a family child care provider. Providers are also encouraged to plan outdoor visits to neighborhood playgrounds with other providers. System-wide field trips and activities are organized by the system staff.
Monthly workshops and provider meetings are held. The agency is a USDA food sponsor. Support is available through the agency's social service department. Training for providers in abuse and neglect is offered and family support services are provided to the parents.
Central Baptist Children's Home in Lake Villa, Illinois is a third CWLA agency providing child care services through a family child care system. The program is committed to providing quality child care while working to support and strengthen families. Child care services are child-centered, age-appropriate, and family focused in a flexible and unhurried, child care home setting.
The Central Baptist Family Child Care program reflects the supervisory model of family child care. Frequent contact between a family child care network coordinator, children, providers, and parents helps to bond and maintain the family child care system as a complete support system. Family child care coordinators participate in the licensing of homes, enforcement of regulations, and visit each child care home bi-monthly.
Family child care providers offer support and work together with parents to provide children with the best possible care outside of their own homes. The family child care home environment provides a stimulating place for children to explore and develop. The Central Baptist Children's Home family home-based child care program strives to meet the individual needs of young children in a nurturing setting that focuses on the physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development of each child. It is the positive interaction between the child care home provider, parents, and the program coordinator, working as a cooperative team that makes family child care a quality experience that moves above and beyond traditional child care.
# # # # #
These are just three examples of how family child care system can operate. They offer providers a network of support that can end isolation, provide training and other resources, and improve the quality of care being provided. Systems offer parents a network of providers, support for family problems, alternative care when a provider is sick or on vacation, and the reputation of a quality child care agency.
 Back to Top  Printer-friendly Page  Contact Us
|
|
