TweetSharePinShare0 Shares Presenter: Bliss Letang [ Music ] >> Hello, my name is Bliss Letang, I am the Director of Early Learning Program Engagement at Trying Together. Trying Together supports high-quality care and education for young children by providing advocacy, community resources, and professional growth opportunities for the needs and rights of children, their families, and the individuals who interact with them. You can stay up to date on Trying Together news and events by signing up for the newsletter or following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Today, we will be talking about the early learning landscape in Pennsylvania and also about relative providers. The early learning landscape in Pennsylvania is full of care opportunities for our little learners. Whether you place your child at a child care center or have someone care for your child in their home or in your home, the quality of care and the interactions will stay with your child all the way through adulthood. Right now, you have the option of placing your child in a child care center, group home child care, or home-based family child care, or selecting a relative to provide the care for your child. Child care centers are usually in a building that has been inspected and specifically prepared for the safety, well-being, and education of the children in care. Group child care homes can be in a large home or building that’s also been prepared. Home-based family child care providers are usually in the home of the caregiver. And relative child care providers care for children in their home as well or in the parents’ home. Child care centers can have 13 or more children in care at any one time. It depends on the size of the facility. A group child care home can have seven to 12 children in care at any one time, depending on the size of the home or, again, the facility. Home-based family child care providers can care for up to six children in their homes. Relative child care providers can care for up to three children in their home and up to six grandchildren at any one time. Currently, there are over 650 certified child care providers participating in subsidized child care program in Allegheny County. There are a little over 630 relative child care providers that are also participating in the subsidized child care program. Child care centers, group child care homes, and home-based family child care programs are considered certified providers. They go through a certification process, and there are specific goals that they have to meet in order to achieve quality, safety, and the educational requirements for your child. Let’s talk a little bit about the importance of choice and why choice is important in child care. Who knows your child better than you? And who knows what’s best for your child but you as the parent? You know your child better than anyone. And it is important that you are involved in deciding who cares for your child. The experiences that your child has while in care are impactful and create lasting memories that they will carry with them into adulthood. So it is important that you as a parent are involved and very mindful when selecting the person that provides care for your little child. Then there’s quality, choosing quality care. Let’s talk a little bit about quality. What is quality? Quality is a degree of excellence. Quality child care is above average child care, excellent child care. And when you think about where you are placing your child in care, you want excellent child care. High-quality child care fulfills some important goals such as keeping children safe while their parents are at work. It nurtures and develops children and prepares them for school and beyond. Here are some important factors about quality child care and choosing quality care. High-quality care, excuse me. High-quality care creates a stimulating, safe, and loving environment for your child. No matter who you choose to be your child’s caregiver, you want your little one to feel safe, happy, and loved in those moments when you are not there. Learning begins before school. Learning for your child begins well before they start attending school. Children begin learning from birth, and it occurs in all environments. Even your baby is learning when playing a joyous game of Peek-a-boo with their caregiver. High-quality care prepares your child for school and for life. Communication, every interaction that your child has with their caregiver encourages them to communicate and to learn how to communicate. Whether it’s talking or playing, those interactions are teaching your child. And your child is also learning social and emotional development. During care, children are interacting with adults and other children. And they learn to navigate social situations. They learn to make friends, and they learn how to share. They get to experience and explore their feelings and how to deal with those feelings. These things are happening while your child is with a caregiver. So making sure the environment, the caregiver, and the type of care meets your quality standard is so important and pivotal in your child’s development. Here are some things to look for when deciding on quality care and how to choose quality care. Look for low child-to-teacher ratios. How many children is that one teacher taking care of at a time? Are the groups small or are they large? Does the staff have higher education and ongoing children? Does the director have prior experience in child care? How does your child react when they are with their teacher or their caregiver? Pay attention to your child’s interaction. Those are very telling situations. Does the program have accreditation or higher than minimum licensing standards? And what age-appropriate activities do they provide for your child while they are in care? Quality is so important when selecting your child caregiver. So we urge you to pay attention and to be involved in making those decisions. Let’s talk about relative provider care. What is a relative provider? Or how is a relative provider defined? A relative provider is related to the child or children they care for by marriage, blood, or court decree as the child’s grandparent, great grandparent, aunt, uncle, or sibling over the age of 18. Now previously, we talked about quality care, and we talked about the teacher-to-child ratio. So as a relative provider, you are probably thinking that you are not a teacher or a child care professional. Well, you are, in fact, sometimes that child’s very first teacher. When you read to your little learner at naptime, pointing out words or making animal sounds, you are teaching them. When they are in the kitchen with you helping to make some cookies, they are learning numbers and they are learning math. Many of us have childhood memories of cooking with a grandparent or doing some gardening or having the same story read over and over again. We have carried those memories into adulthood because they were important and they are impactful. So every interaction that child has with you as a relative child care provider is important because it will stay with them. And it is an opportunity for you to continue teaching them and prepare them for the future. Remember, children begin learning well before they start attending school. So the time that they spend with you and in your care is very important. So you want to know how you become a relative provider. First thing that has to happen is that the family receiving subsidized child care has to select and identify you as the child care provider. We spoke earlier about the importance of choice, and this is where that choice comes into place. Once you have been identified, there are some required actions that you will need to take in order to participate in a subsidized child care program. You will have to complete the approved mandated reporter training. The great news is that this is an online training that you can do at your own pace. You will have to complete and pass the Federal Criminal History or fingerprints. You will also have to complete and pass the National Sex Offender Registry, the Pennsylvania State Police Criminal and Child Abuse certifications. And once you have all of those certifications, you will also have to complete an orientation. Part of that orientation will require you to provide a valid photo ID and proof of your Social Security number. As a relative provider, you must be over the age of 18, and you may not live with the child or children for whom you provide care, and care must also be provided in your own home or in the parents’ home. The great news is that you do not have to navigate any of these processes on your own. Once you have been identified as a relative provider, once you have been identified as a relative caregiver, you will be assigned an early learning program engagement specialist who will work hand in hand with you and will provide all the information you need to complete this process. And as we end today, I want to leave you with just this quote, “One hundred years from now, it will not matter what your bank account was, the sort of house you lived in, or the kind of car you drove. But the world may be different because you were important in the life of a child.” Thank you so much for joining me. Here are some additional resources regarding the benefits of quality care and how to choose quality child care. Be an advocate for the child in your life by joining us on any one of these platforms. And here are some more resources that Trying Together provides for families. Allegheny Child Care, if you are a caregiver seeking child care for early learning, after school, out of school, summer camp, and virtual programs, you can use this tool to search all available spots in Allegheny County. The Early Learning Resource Center, families can utilize the ELRC to gain information and services that support high-quality child care and early learning programs. The Homewood Early Learning Hub and Family Center, families in Homewood and surrounding areas can utilize the hub and family center for activities for their children and individual and group support for parents. And finally, the Developmentally Appropriate Parenting series; utilize the developmentally appropriate, utilize the Developmentally Appropriate Parenting series on the Trying Together website. Again, my name is Bliss Letang and I am the director of Early Learning Program Engagement at Trying Together. Thank you so much for joining. [ Music ] TweetSharePinShare0 Shares
