On May 20 and 21, 2019 in collaboration with the National Association for Family Child Care, the Montgomery County Child Care Resource and Referral Center, and the Family Child Care Association of Montgomery County, MD, we conducted two focus groups with family child care providers. These focus groups were designed to learn more about the specific needs faced by family child care providers.
The Importance of Family Child Care Providers
Family child care providers are essential. On a daily basis more than three million children under the age of 5 are cared for by family child care providers. More than 1 million family child care providers provide a nurturing, caring and safe environment in a home-based setting. Ensuring that family providers have access to relevant tools, resources and emergency preparedness trainings that meet their unique needs is of paramount importance to the Institute For Childhood Preparedness.
During the first focus group, we provided an overview of the existing training curriculum and solicited feedback on what topics, issues, and themes would be most beneficial for family child care providers. The second focus group was in Spanish and it focused on family child care providers and their unique views and needs on active shooter preparedness. Participants’ input will be used to enhance the curriculum to ensure it has a stronger focus and relevance for family child care providers.
The timing for these focus groups was no accident. The Institute for Childhood Preparedness is proud to partner with the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) and will be conducting three training sessions, including a pre-conference session at their upcoming June 19-22, 2019 Conference in Orlando, Florida.
The Institute's Big News
Ahora en Español! Our Active Shooter Training workshops are now offered in Spanish. Our first all-Spanish session will occur at the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) Conference in Orlando, Florida on June 20, 2019.
This new version will allow us to reach a greater number of child care providers across the United States, as well as tailor our trainings to the specific needs of the Spanish-speaking community.
We look forward to continuing to grow and serve the early childhood community. With the research obtained from our focus groups, we will be including new, pertinent information to improve our active shooter trainings. Thank you again to our wonderful focus group sponsors, the National Association for Family Child Care, Montgomery County Child Care Resource and Referral Center, and the Family Child Care Association of Montgomery County.
Our trainings are specifically tailored to early childhood professionals and those caring for infants, toddlers, and children. If you would like to schedule an emergency preparedness, disaster recovery, CPR class, fire extinguisher or active shooter training for your child care program, school or community, contact us today.