Putting a Face on Family Childcare

 Lushanna Thompson arrived at the Children's Museum in New Haven with one-year-old Ariella on her hip. It wasn't planned that the youngster would take part in the April 16 press conference, but Ariella wouldn't let Thompson, who owns “Every Child Ahead” in New Haven, out of her sight. The little one snuggled on Thompson's shoulder; every once in awhile looking up and smiling. It's moments like these that show the connection between a home-based childcare provider and a child. Putting a face on family childcare and what it provides – and urge a continued state investment to keep these providers in business – that was the purpose of the event.

Needing Economic Stability

“Family daycare is not respected like centers are, when we are just as important,” said Thompson, who noted the two-year-olds in her care know their colors and their letters – the letters they know in three languages.

“We're not babysitters – we're educators,” Thompson added. She knows she is doing her job when Ariella doesn't even want to go home at the end of the day.

Home-based childcare providers like Thompson need economic stability, just as center-based providers do, so that quality care can be provided to children.

Jessica Sager, All Our Kin, Inc.'s executive director, offered the following family childcare statistics:

• There are 2,663 family childcare providers in Connecticut

• Those providers can serve nearly 15,900 children full-time, plus an additional 7,700 children after school

• Of the nearly 15,900 slots, about one-third, or 5,300, represent infant and toddler slots

Sager noted an enormous shortage of infant and toddler slots, both in New Haven and across the state. In New Haven, one licensed childcare slot is available for every eight infants/toddlers needing one. Home-based providers care for 68% of infants and toddlers, and as many as 77% of low-income children in the Elm City. Family childcare providers make it possible for Connecticut parents to go to work each day and provide their children with the early learning experiences they need for success in school.

Couldn't Afford New Haven

Parent Gabriella Campos spoke of her provider Mary Edith Perez and what she has meant to the Campos family. Campos, who is the executive director of the Grand Avenue Village Association (GAVA) said she makes a decent wage, but knows she couldn't make ends meet without her husband's salary too.

“I would not be able to afford to stay in New Haven,” she said. The couple does not qualify for programs such as Care4Kids, but wanted quality, affordable care for their two sons. To Campos, her family care provider has become a member of the family.

“To me, as a Latina, that is so important,” said Campos. “If it wasn't for Mary Edith, I couldn't go to work.”

Listening – Loud and Clear

Event organizers wanted decision makers to hear them – and New Haven state Rep. Toni Walker was listening. A champion of children's issues, Walker made her way to the museum before heading to the Capitol.

“My aide knows whenever it's a kid's issue, she can put it on my calendar,” Walker said. “I come back [to the office] happy.”

Unfortunately, Walker said, the conversation itself has to change. She noted a poster on her office wall that talks about the costs for raising a “ready” child and a “broken” child. The cost, she said, is nearly a 4 to 1 ratio, and includes special education, remedial help and incarceration costs. Bringing the early care and education component prominently into the conversation as a preventive measure instead of a reactive measure would provide more quality care avenues to children.

“We have to make this conversation a lot louder,” she said.

The event was sponsored by All Our Kin, Inc., CT Early Childhood Alliance, CT Parent Power, CT Association for Human Services, New Haven Early Childhood Council and the Connecticut Children's Museum. It was held in conjunction with the “Mornings at the Museum” project, which provides home-based early childhood educators with the resources they need to implement quality early care and education and to help children acquire the skills and knowledge they need to be ready for school. Sixteen New Haven providers and 64 children are enrolled in the program. They participate in 24 two-hour visits to the museum over a 12-month period.