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Professional Development
Ongoing professional learning and development is important to all those who believe in staying abreast of the latest developments in their selected profession, including family child care providers. Learning opportunities are available to providers in a variety of settings and manners. Most of the accreditation associations such as the NAFCC and the COA provide and sometimes mandate professional development courses and opportunities in addition to their initial accreditation process. For more information on those organizations, please see the Accreditation page.
In addition to professional development assistance offered by the major accreditation organizations, providers can avail themselves to an array of services and resources depending on their needs. The following compilation organizes some of these resources according to types of needs that providers may have.
For Providers
- Professional Development for Caregivers
Published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this article discusses research that indicates that emotional, social, and cognitive development are closely linked, and that a secure bond to a responsive caregiver is a key to healthy development in the first months and years of life in the context of child care, including family child care.
- The Professional Family Child Care Association
Committed to the professional development of family child care providers in pursuit of quality care for all children.
- NJ Professional Development Center for Early Care and Education
The quality of a young child's experience in an early care and education program - whether it is a family child care home, school or child care center - depends upon the knowledge and skills of practitioners employed by that program. The New Jersey Professional Development Center for Early Care and Education has been established to improve the availability of, and access to, quality teacher preparation and continuing professional education opportunities.
Community College Coursework and Resources
Many community colleges and continuing education centers across the country offer classes and certificates in child development and child care. For specific offerings in a particular region, please check local colleges. The following examples were selected as good models for those who seek to provide continuing education to family child care providers.
Family Child Care at its Best is a series of workshops and lectures offered by the The Center for Human Services at the University of California at Davis. The series emphasizes the needs of children from birth to age three. It aims to enhance the quality and safety of licensed family child care homes, increase retention of existing family child care homes, provide state and local agencies data about training and technical assistance to meet the needs of licensed family child care homes, and expand links between family child care providers, resource and referral agencies, county welfare departments, and child care associations. The program currently receives support from a broad range of both public and private entities. Classes are offered in English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation available in other languages.
The Maryland Cooperative Extension Service has been certified to provide continuing education to regulated child care providers in the state since 1994. Each year over 2000 family, center and school-age child care providers receiving training either directly from or sponsored by MCES. Training events occur throughout the year, and in nearly all counties in the state, and in Baltimore City. The Cooperative Extension provides continuing training on a range of topics geared to the professional needs of child care providers. We offer events at a lower cost than many other training sponsors (which is highly appealing considering the low wages of the family child care provider), presented by highly knowledgeable speakers who know how to effectively reach the audience. Among other offerings, they currently hold teaching workshops on infant brain development research and application to providers and parents. Under consideration is a series to be called Balancing Work and Family Needs for the Family Child Care Provider, a topic area critical to the stress management, professionalism, and continuity of care for child care providers.
Multi-lingual Resources
A variety of professional development resources such as fact sheets, continuing education classes and workshops are available in languaes besides Enligh depending upon local community resources and needs. The following examples have been selected as models for providing multi-lingual and cross-cultural professional development services to family child care providers.
The Family Child Care program at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center helps train and license Chinese-speaking Asian women who wish to open family child care homes. The program runs a family child care system that provides subsidized child care to the low-income families.
The Wisconsin Child Care Improvement Project provides an information packet specifically geared towards Hmong Family Child Care providers.
RedLeaf Press offers a variety of publications in Spanish for family child care providers. Topics range from business management to curriculum development.
Program Staff
The size of a family child care home business can vary according to capacity and local regulations. For instance, in the state of Massachusetts, family child care homes can legally care for up to 10 children, but must have two licensed providers when there are 6 or more children. To this extent, hiring additional staff is in some instances required. However, a provider may wish to hire full or part-time to simply help in a particular capacity. The following are examples of resources that should be helpful to providers who are considering hiring addtional staff or would like more knowledge on managing employees.
In a report about the childcare workforce in Connecticut, Early Childhood DataCONNections, a collaboration initiative of the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, Inc. and the Connecticut Department of Social Services, concluded that turnover among family child care staff is potentially damaging to children. Read the full report.
The Reinvestment Fund, Inc. (TRF) builds wealth and opportunity for low-wealth communities and low- and moderate-income individuals through the promotion of socially and environmentally responsible development. TRF makes loans, equity investments, and grants to affordable housing, small business, community services, commercial real estate, workforce development, and energy conservation projects. As part of its financing consultation, TRF offers a Child Care Manual that contains information on staffing that might be useful to family child care providers.
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