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Family Child Care Connections: March 2022 E-News

Welcome to our Family Child Care Provider e-news feature that includes resources specifically for family child care providers in the Miami Valley and Southwest Ohio. Stay tuned to receive the latest updates to help support you in your business and your journey to providing quality care for our youngest learners.

The next Family Child Care Connections virtual meeting is on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, from 6-7:30 p.m. The topic for this month is “Diving Into Family Engagement.” Click this Zoom link at the meeting start time to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88208439648?pwd=RDAxVDIxeFR3d0V2K1pPdWxXdk01QT09#success

The goal for these sessions is to support family child care providers in daily interactions with children and families in a relaxed, professional virtual environment.

Here are some action steps to take and some important reminders for your family child care business this month:

Parent Volunteers

Things to consider when developing parent volunteer groups:

  • Open New Communication Channels. Opening new electronic communication channels via email, text and social media is your ticket for getting more parents interested and involved.
  • Be Clear About Where You Most Need Parents to Help. Create a list of activities parents can be involved in like preparing activities, making copies, planning field trips, making phone calls/ emails.
  • Plan for Parent Volunteers. Let the parents schedule themselves for various activities by using an online signup and scheduling tool like VolunteerSpot.com. The tool can also send parents automated reminders, which can result in fewer accidental no shows.

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) Licensing Rule Reminder:

Parent volunteers are permitted in a family child care (FCC) program. Consider the following:

  • If the parent has regularly scheduled hours/duties (even if they are not paid), they need to have a complete staff file.
  • If parents are just coming in for one event and helping their child, they do not need to have anything on file.

Here is an important tip to help you with your Step Up To Quality goals. Reach out to your coach if you need help.

Be Ready for Change
As Step Up to Quality (SUTQ) changes, we, as coaches, want you to always be prepared for any change, inspection, or review. To be best prepared, it’s especially important and quality practice to keep all your SUTQ paperwork updated and in a safe place where you can access it quickly for any future visits.

Making a Family Cookbook

  • Ask your families to each choose a recipe to cook with their child/children at home
  • Have families send in the recipe as well as photos and videos of them cooking/baking it together.
  • Use the photos/videos/recipes to build a Family Cookbook for your progr

Children can use the cookbook to help share family memories with school friends and the child care provider can use the recipes to create new meals and snacks for children to try.

Here are some upcoming training opportunities for you to consider: