Photo By Master Sgt. Kamaile Casillas | Claire Silver (center), 319th Force Support Squadron, child development program...... read more read more
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GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D.--Imagine if the waitlist at the Child Development Center were years long, or if the School Age Center potentially closed down completely, or worse yet, if Liberty Square was no longer an option for after school or weekend enrichment opportunities. If you have children enrolled in the CDC or Youth Programs, then these options probably sound stressful and perhaps not like options at all.
These are just some of the things that Correna Woods, Child and Youth Services Flight Chief and her staff are trying to prevent with changes to both programs that are effective within the near future.
“On February 14, messages were sent out to our families in regards to changes that would alleviate manning and waitlist concerns,” Woods said. “The bottom line is that these changes will happen, but we have pushed our deadline to allow families more time to prepare.”
CDC hours
Effective 1 April, the CDC will change its hours to open at 0700, previously 0630 and will close at 1700, previously 1730. Attendance logs showed that only six children were checked in for care prior to 0700. “The hour that we get back frees up our staff to allow for mandated scheduled breaks, curriculum planning, and establishes continuity of caregivers in the classrooms which provides parents the opportunity to communicate with providers about their child’s day,” said Tara Rollins, CDC Director.
Another benefit of the change in hours is that it reduces the amount of time families are waitlisted for childcare. “When we first arrived, we were on a waitlist for over a month,” said Ann O’Rourke, whose son is currently enrolled at the facility. “I had to fly my mother here to watch the kids in order to start working, so I know how it feels.”
The changes will not completely eliminate the waitlist and for that reason Child Care Aware of America may be another option for those who need to seek care at an off base facility. Under CCAA, the Air Force Child Care Fee Assistance Program was created to provide authorized active duty personnel assistance in locating, selecting, and offsetting the cost of civilian child care, when installation child care is not available, or a viable option for the Air Force sponsor and their family. Visit www.childcareaware.org/ for more information on the program.
If members require care outside of normal duty hours provided, they can file for Extended Duty Care utilizing Family Childcare Coordinators.
“It will be a little challenging for my family,” said O’Rourke. “But overall I can see where the changes will be beneficial. Ultimately, I will need to rely more on my active duty husband to pick up and drop off the kids because my work schedule is not conducive to the new hours.”
School Age Center hours
Effective 1 April, the SAC will change its hours to open at 0700, previously 0630 and will close at 1730, previously 1800. Ultimately these changes must occur in order to correct inspection deficiencies that were recently noted. If hours remain unchanged, Open Rec (Liberty Square) could close. If staffing challenges continued, there is potential for the SAC to be co-located within the CDC.
“We’re doing everything we can to prevent this from happening,” Woods said. “It would be worst case scenario to have children ages 6 weeks to 12 years in the same building for childcare, and we need to make these changes to prevent that from being our only option.”
Liberty Square program
Effective 1 March, Liberty Square changed its hours to be open Tuesday thru Saturday, 0900 to 1800. The attendance logs revealed that Mondays were underutilized, averaging three children to five staff members. Previously, the location was only open Monday to Friday. “Although we are now closed on Mondays, the Saturday option provides parents an opportunity to drop their kids off to take part in enrichment programs such as 4-H and STEM,” Woods said.
It’s important to note that this is also not an Air Force mandated program, but Woods and her staff are working hard to keep the program going.
“We recognize the value that an open recreation program provides to our families who are isolated for almost 6 months of the year due to the extreme weather conditions we have here,” Woods said.
Information from the Source
While it is true that wait times can be lengthy at the CDC or Youth Center, inaccurate information from outside sources can sometimes do more harm than good, according to Woods.
“I understand that parents will talk about their personal experiences and social media is an avenue that will be used to gather information about our services,” Woods said. “But, parents should also communicate directly with the agencies they are utilizing, to ensure the information is not lost in translation.”
The CYP mission is to assist Department of Defense military and civilian personnel in balancing the competing demands of the accomplishment of the DoD mission and family life by managing and delivering a system of quality, available, and affordable programs and services for eligible children and youth birth through 18 years of age.
Base leadership, to include squadron commanders and first sergeants are aware of the impending changes and the families that will need to adjust care to fit within the new schedule. “We understand that there will be some families that are more affected than others”, said Col. Heather Cook, 319th Mission Support Group commander. “These changes are necessary, but Airmen need to ensure they are communicating with their leadership to ensure they have a good plan in place once these changes are in effect.”
Staffing challenges
Staffing is the primary means CDCs are able to open more slots. The CDC needs more help, Woods said, and is eager to hire people.
“The main reason why our CDC is not at full capacity is that we have an insufficient number of providers,” Woods said. “If we have the staffing, we can offer as many spaces as the operational capacity of our CDC will allow.”
For those who are interested in childcare jobs on base, please go to www.usajobs.gov to search for available openings.
Feedback is paramount
“Feedback provided to us on the annual FSS parent surveys definitely drives many of the changes we implement across the childcare enterprise,” Woods said. “In fact, staff morale was a key area of concern highlighted in the surveys, and many of the changes being implemented are solutions to address the feedback we received.”
Base leadership will continue to assess the programs in conjunction with base needs and make adjustments as necessary. Parents should keep the lines of communication open with their leadership to ensure that any issues can be addressed in a timely manner.
“We are doing our best to assist the total force while also ensuring our service members are able to meet mission requirements,” Woods said. “In the future we will do better to communicate upcoming changes ahead of time to ensure families are able to find other options if our programs are not able to meet their needs.”
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.12.2020 10:06 |
| Story ID: | 365035 |
| Location: | GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, ND, US |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Changes to child and youth program hours to improve quality of Care, by MSgt Kamaile Casillas, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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