|
Introduction | FFN Care | Strategy 1-3 | Initiatives | Acknowledgements & Appendix
FFN Guidebook: Initiatives
CURRENT ILLINOIS INITIATIVES Child Care Resource & Referral; Joliet, IL Using a quality enhancement grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services-Bureau of Child Care & Development, this agency created “Relative Care/Parent Activity Day.” The goal of this initiative was to involve the family, friends and neighbor providers in the services offered by the CCR&R system. These sessions were 1 - 1½ hour in length, so that providers can bring their children and participate in a variety of appropriate activities for children. Activities were presented that could be easily adapted for them to do at home with the children. During the past two years, 18 sessions have been held with an average of six (6) providers with 3 children each, participating in each session. Parents were also encouraged to attend. Providers received an activity kit (retail value $30.00) with books, materials, and toys, which corresponded with the activity day topic. Contact: Tamara Notter at Community Child Care Resource & Referral Center; Davenport, IA Serving 7 counties in the Quad Cities area, this CCR&R supports family, friends and neighbor providers in the following ways:
Contact Mary Jo Huddleston at West Central Child Care Connection; Quincy, IL This agency facilitates monthly orientations titled “Opening Your Home to Family Child Care”. Quality Counts vans are used to deliver literacy resources and other lending library materials as requested. YWCA Child Care Resource & Referral; Glen Ellyn, IL Using a Quality Enhancement grant from IDHS, this agency developed and implemented a five-session training series for license-exempt family, friends and neighbor providers. Sessions focused on:
Participants were offered incentives and bonuses to attend the series. The Illinois Informal Child Care Research Project. This project will examine issues related to the provision of informal child care through the Illinois Child Care Subsidy program, with an emphasis on learning the perspectives of informal care users and service providers. The project is intended to last three years, and will involve a variety of research activities. Most of these involve surveys and other field research with community child care staff, informal care providers, and parents who use informal care. These will be complimented by administrative data analyses of informal child care use patterns in each year of the project. Some research activities will be employed statewide, but more intensive interviewing will occur in three diverse geographic areas (Chicago, Peoria, and the southern seven Illinois counties). See appendix or download a copy at www.dhs/dts/ccfs/license_exempt_study.html INITIATIVES IN OTHER STATES If you would like to learn more about strategies that have been implemented in other communities to support and strengthen family, friends & neighbors child care, the following programs may be able to share their experiences and successes: Training and Support of Neighborhood and Relative Caregivers Project Contact: Debbie Pricener, DirectorResource and Referral Child Care Partnership Minnesota Welfare to Work Partnership Building Better VillagesContact: Annie ShermanMinneapolis Way to Grow The Child Care and Family Support Partnership Contact: Toni Porter, DirectorCenter for Family Support Help Me Grow and Ohio Educational Television Stations Contact: Susan IgnelziOhio Department of Mental Health License-Exempt Outreach ProjectContact: Marsha Habluetzel, Director Child Care Food Program for Kith and Kin Providers Caring for Kids IntiativeContact: Binnie Baker, DirectorChild Care Resource and Referral Network WEB SITE RESOURCES National Center for Children in Poverty – Child Care by Kith and Kin: Supporting Family, Friends, and Neighbors Caring for Children www.cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp Bank Street College – Kith and Kin Policy www.bnkst.edu/childcare The Annie E. Casey Foundation – Child Care You Court On: Model Programs and Policies www.aecf.org/publications/child/fam Urban Institute – Child Care Arrangements for Children Under Five: Variation Across States www.newdederalism.urban.org National Child Care Information Center – Non-Licensed Forms of Child Care in Homes: Issue and Recommendations for State Support Rural Welfare to Work Strategies Initiatives – Child Care for Welfare Participants in Rural Areas www.acf.dhhs.gov
|
