Family Child Care Steps to Quality Program & Network

Family Child Care Steps to Quality Network

This Program is designed to meet two critical findings of the Santa Barbara County Strategic Plan. The first is to increase opportunity for children to participate in high quality child care and education programs prior to Kindergarten, in an effort to promote school readiness. The second is to continue to expand the efforts to increase education and professional development of the Early Child Care workforce. Through this quality improvement system participants will enhance the overall quality of their program by improving their degree of functioning in: Education, Business, Environments and Relationships with children and families. A family child care provider, at any level can find a place within the System. The Family Child Care Steps to Quality Network implements a strong mentoring component that will support individuals from State Licensing through National Accreditation.

Any family in need of child care has the right for their child to be included in a high quality learning environment. This Program increases high quality child care spaces and promotes greater access to high quality child care for children in Santa Barbara County.

The program highlights include:

Minimum of 3 Home Visits Annually
Program staff conducts 3 scheduled home visits throughout the program year from July 1 – June 30.

• The first home visit conducted between September and October includes the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale assessment (FCCERS). This pre-assessment provides the provider and the staff with a baseline assessment score to create an Individualized Steps to Quality Plan (ISQP) for ongoing program improvement.

• The second home visit includes the creation of the ISQP. These visits are all conducted between the months of November – January. The ISQP will identify program areas of improvement and short term and long term goals. This plan will highlight specific areas such as educational goals, environmental goals, business goals, personal goals etc.

• At the final home visit, conducted between February - May, a post FCCERS assessment is completed. This assessment will identify the areas of improvement throughout the environment. Additionally, the staff will work with the provider to acknowledge the progress on the ISQP. If the provider has completed the required steps agreed to by the provider and staff, they will be issued a stipend. The amount of the stipend is dependent on the providers progress and funding availability.

Independent Rating Scale Assessments (Pre/Post)
Program Staff conduct an independent assessment of each participating program, using the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale (FCCERS). At the end of the Program year a repeat FCCERS assessment will be conducted for each family child care program. The expectation would be that a participant’s score would increase through the Technical Assistance and mentoring/coaching we provide through this Program.

Professional Development/Trainings
To qualify for Network Membership a family child care provider must: create a Business Plan, complete 30 hours of Professional Growth annually, participate in related activities, maintain an acceptable FCCERS rating and be in good standing with Community Care Licensing. 

Mentorship
The Mentorship Program is designed for family child care providers who have completed the NAFCC accreditation process, to mentor their peers who desire to become an NAFCC accredited program. The mentors support the mentee through the accreditation process.

Learning Communities/Networking
The Learning Communities are designed to bring the Network Members and other family child care providers together for trainings and networking. These opportunities offer family child care providers at all educational and professional levels time to share information and support each other in a tangible way.

Business Planning
Every family child care provider who participates in the FCCSTQ Program will be required to create a professional business plan. The Business Plan is much like a blue-print of how a provider would like to operate his/her Family Child Care Business. Included in this business plan are Marketing Strategies, Insurance & Liability Plans, Professional Development Goals, and Recording Keeping & Budget Planning. Additionally, each provider will likely identify their unique short term and long term goals for their business.

Family Child Care Steps to Quality Network Members:
Lourena Beale
Alma Cabrera
Blanca Cardoso
Pomposa Cendejas
Maria Del Rocio Cortez
Christine Fleenor
Florecita Hernandez
Blanche Holford
Becky Jenkins
Graciela Lundin
Edith De Leon
Maria Mendez
Patricia Moros
Josefina Paz
Laurel Penk
Griselda Ramos
Maria Saucedo
Maria Ubias
Joan Velazquez
Celiflora Villa De Torres
Melody Wynn
 

Quality Counts
Center based early childhood program interested in working on quality improvement should contact Quality Counts.  Click here for more information. 

National Associations for Family Child Care Accreditation 
National Associations for Family Child Care accreditation is a process in family child care to indentify exemplary practices by a particular family child care program. Accreditation is both a status and a process. As a status, accreditation provides public notification that the program meets standards of quality set forth by an accrediting agency. As a process, accreditation reflects the fact that in achieving recognition by the accrediting agency, the institution or program is committed to self-study and external review in seeking not only to meet standards but to continuously seek ways in which to enhance the quality of the services provided.

NAFCC Accreditation Support
It is our goal to share the importance of Accreditation to: parents, community and family child care providers. With the increase of awareness, it is our expectation that more Providers will recognize the value in achieving national accreditation for their business. The ultimate goal is to increase high quality child care environments for children to learn and grow in Santa Barbara County. If you would like NAFCC Accreditation support, please contact Children’s Resource & Referral of Santa Barbara County at 805-925-7071.

Network Mentors:
Krista Davis
Christine Fleenor
Blanche Holford
Becky Jenkins
Danielle Monroy
Ana Santiago

NAFCC Accredited Programs in Santa Barbara County:  
Krista Davis, "Davis Family Child Care" - Santa Barbara, CA
Sherry Behjat-Khodarahm,  “Angel Family Child Care” - Goleta, CA
Treasea Landreth, Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
Maryvonne Lesvenan, “Cadence for Kidz” - Santa Maria, CA
Danielle Monroy, "Creative Care for Children Preschool" - Santa Barbara, CA
Ana Santiago, "Mimi’s Family Child Care" - Santa Barbara, CA