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Riverside County Family Child Care Association>
Key to Quality Care
November 7, 2007
Child Care Providers: Key to Quality Care
Each day, as families across the country ready themselves
for work, millions of child care providers are ready to
care for and educate their children. Child care providers
play a pivotal role in the lives of the children entrusted
to their care. The provider, in concert with a supportive
community that provides adequate funding and clearly
established standards, is the key to quality child care.
An educated and experienced child care provider:
is responsive to the needs of each child,
provides a family-centered child care environment,
establishes a safe, nurturing, and stimulating setting for
children to grow and learn,
works in partnership with the family, and
develops relationships with other community groups.
Such caregiving is essential to the successful development
of the child, imperative for parents in the workforce, and
a cornerstone of the community. While families are at work,
quality child care settings give children the opportunity
to thrive and develop to their full potential.
This issue of the Child Care Bulletin recognizes and
celebrates the important work of the child care provider.
It highlights ways in which states, national organizations,
and communities are supporting the early childhood work
force by establishing initiatives which promote leadership
development and credentialing; providing a mechanism for
child care providers to receive health benefits; developing
comprehensive training opportunities; and increasing
compensation for quality child care professionals.
Programs that have linked professional development and
compensation, such as the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood®
Project and the Military Child Development System, are
described in this issue. Information is included on the
national leadership development projects Taking the Lead:
Investing in Early Childhood Leadership for the 21st
Century and the African American Early Childhood Resource
Center, as well as on ways that states and community
programs have been training women who are transitioning off
welfare to become successful child care providers. Also
presented are initiatives developed by Save the Children
Child Care Support Center such as warm lines, neighborhood
networks, community collaboratives, specialized training,
and resource rooms that help to support family child care
providers.
We salute each child care provider, caring for infants,
toddlers, preschool- age children, school-age children, in
homes, centers, during the day, evening or weekend. We
honor the dedication and efforts of all those who say, "I
nurture the future; I am a child care provider." As another
school year begins, our hopes are that it brings with it
renewed energy and optimism and that together we can make a
difference for all children and families.
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