A Mentoring Approach to Achieving Quality in Family Child Care

1. A Mentoring Approach to Achieving Quality in Family Child Care Ellen Abell Associate Professor and Extension Specialist Director, Family Child Care Partnerships Ellaine B. Miller Doctoral Candidate Program Coordinator, Family Child Care Partnerships

2. Family Child Care Partnerships (FCCP) assists family child care providers to offer families high quality child care services, with a focus on moving providers toward NAFCC accreditation standards, through… • …weekly, in-home mentoring visits • …equipment grants • …assistance with accreditation costs Rationale In Alabama, there are approximately 2,500 licensed family child care homes with the capacity to care for over 20,000 children. The quality of care offered by Alabama’s family child care providers varies widely. Recently, the state increased the minimum standards for training hours from 4 hours per year to 20. However, barriers to attending include training scheduled at times and places that make attendance difficult to arrange, as well as training topics that too often focus on center-based rather than home-based child care concerns. FCCP was designed to address the barriers and limitations to family child care providers receiving regular, specialized training opportunities and professionalization experiences.

3. FCCP is the result of a partnership between the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) and Auburn University’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies. FCCP has been in operation since April, 2000, after 22 mentors were hired, trained, and began statewide recruiting of family child care providers into the program. In the 2 years since mentoring activities began, over 200 providers have participated in the program. FCCP by the numbers… • 24 mentors work statewide • 160+ child care providers are actively enrolled and enrollment is on-going • 570+ children are currently affected • 2900 individual mentoring visits were completed in the last program year • 6500+ training hours were awarded during the last program year

4. FCCP Goals • To provide one-on-one, home-based education and assistanceindividualized to the specific needs and quality improvement goals of the provider. • To support and reward efforts to move beyond licensing standards toward NAFCC accreditation level standards. • To promoteprofessionalism within the family child care community. • To reduce economic barriers family child care provider face in seeking opportunities to increase their knowledge and skills. • To increase provider knowledge of institutional, educational, financial, and social resources supporting the implementation of best practices. • To promote the creation of a statewide provider association. Provider Needs Family child care providers have specialized training needs related to the following issues: • appropriate arrangement, augmentation, and use of home spaces and furnishings • working with multi-age groups of children • balancing family and workplace needs • creating a learning environment in the home • owning and managing a home-based business Through the development of a trusting partnership with the provider and through assistance that is context-sensitive, mentors encourage providers to address the special challenges of providing high quality care in the home.

5. The FCCP mentoring approach • A mentoring approach creates a sense of partnership that can facilitate new ways of perceiving and behaving in the child care setting and provide the impetus for change. • Suggestions for quality improvements are more likely to be incorporated when given by an individual with whom the provider has developed a rapport and established a trusting relationship. • Suggestions for quality improvements are more likely to be relevant to a provider’s individual child care setting when given by a mentor who visits regularly and understands the strengths and constraints of the care giving context in which the provider works. Assessing and making progress • Mentors visit participating providers’ homes for a period of time determined by Family Day Care Rating Scale results (FDCRS; Harms & Clifford, 1989). • Providers assessed at Stage 1(lowest FDCRS scores) receive between 3-5 hours of mentoring per week • Providers assessed at Stage 2 receive between 2-4 hours of mentoring per week • Providers at Stage 3 receive 1-3 hours of mentoring per week and are introduced to the NAFCC Quality Standards for Accreditation. • Providers at Stage 4 receive monthly mentoring visits and are assisted to work through the accreditation application process. • Mentors and providers identify goals for improvement based on the FDCRS and NAFCC quality indicators.

6. Results from FCCP Mentor-Provider Partnerships • Among providers who have participated in the program less than 6 months,52% have shown increases in their FDCRS scores • 6% have increased an average of 2-3 points (within the range of 1-7 possible points) across all 32 of the FDCRS quality indicators • 46% have increased an average of up to 2 points across all indicators • Among providers who have participated in the program 6-12 months,85% have shown increases in their FDCRS scores • 24% have increased an average of 2-3 points (within the range of 1-7 possible points) across all 32 of the FDCRS quality indicators • 61% have increased an average of up to 2 points across all indicators.

7. FCCP Mentors gathered at the first-ever Statewide Family Child Care Provider Conference, held in Selma, Alabama, September 2001 Provider Progress Toward Accreditation • 1 provider has achieved NAFCC accreditation • 8 providers are in the process of submitting NAFCC applications for accreditation • 4 providers are at FDCRS “Stage 4" (at which point they are ready to begin the NAFCC application process) • 67 providers are at FDCRS “Stage 3” • 68 providers are at FDCRS “Stage 2” or “Stage 1” • 12 providers are in the assessment stage

8. Comments from Participating Providers What the provider liked best about FCCP: “Information and ideas, someone realizing the importance of home day care.” “I’ve learned to do new things for babies in my daycare.” “The sharing of ideas, solutions to challenges between daycare homes.” “Support for an undersupported and undervalued profession!” Ways in which the mentor had been helpful: “She has helped me realize…there is a lot to learn about babies and their needs.” “I now have a fire drill set up and many more things that had to be done that she has helped me with.” “She has given me new ambition. After 12 years one tends to get caught in a dull rut doing the same activities day in and out. [My mentor] has brought newness with exciting new ideas.” “She helped me see things I couldn’t see to improve my Day care.” Conclusion FCCP’s hands-on mentoring approach, combined with its statewide push to pursue higher standards of care through the NAFCC accreditation process, is making strides in encouraging more intentional and professional attitudes toward caring for children among Alabama family child care providers. For more information, contact Dr. Ellen Abell, Director, FCCP: 334-844-4480; abellel@auburn.edu