Child Care Aware of

South Central Kansas

2010
a progra m of Annual Report

www.childstart.org
For Kansas Children
Everyday, thousands of Kansans take
care of America’s most precious resource...
children. Child Care Aware of South Central
Kansas gives early childhood professionals
the resources to increase the quality of care,
in addition fa milies receive tools to identify
and select the best caregiver for their child.

-Marilee Haney,
Senior Manager, Resource Services

Child Care Aware of South Central Kansas is a progra m of Child Start.

Two service delivery areas (SDAs) are served by the progra m:
Call Center SDA
Provides child care referral services to 53 counties
in Southern Kansas

NOTE: To save space, “Child Care Aware of South Central Kansas” has
been shortened to “Child Care Aware” for the purposes of this report.

District Office SDA

Provides services to early childhood educators and
community partners in 11 counties:
Training
Technical assistance
Referral listing
Resources and data collection

www.childstart.org
2010 Brought Change and New
Opportunities....
Lexie’s Law
This law increased protections for Kansas children
and supports fa milies in making informed child care
choices. Since the passage of Lexie’s Law, KDHE has
focused on transitioning all existing registered homes
to licensed, as the law eliminated the registered
fa mily day care home category.
Lexie’s Law requires the Child Care Licensing
Progra m to develop additional health, safety, and
supervision regulations for the protection of children.
www.childstart.org
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Funding was awarded to Child Care Aware to provide
free training for child care professionals.
Infant/Toddler Recruitment Project -
Kingman County
New slots for infants and toddlers were created
in Kingman County Kansas due in part to grants,
incentives and one-on-one coaching with a Child Care
Aware Infant/Toddler Recruitment Specialist.
E-Learning Progra m
Beginning in 2010, early childhood professionals could
access training online, anytime through Child Care
Aware of Kansas.
The Playground: An Online Community
Officially launched in March 2010, The Playground
is an online community for all audiences to receive
up to date information and connect with other local
professionals.
KACCRRA becomes Child Care Aware of
Kansas
After 20 years, KACCRRA retired it’s na me and
adopted the new na me of Child Care Aware of
Kansas.
Child Care Aware provides professional
development to early childhood
professionals
In 2010, 8,747 hours of professional development was provided to 3,145 attendees at Child Care
Aware in-service trainings.

In addition, 6,306 hours of Adult, Child & Infantt CPR/Choking, F irst Aid & Safety training
were taken by over 1,000 early childhood professionals.

VII VIII
Training topics presented in 2010
I I: Child Growth & Development
VI
II: Learning Environment & Curriculum
III: Child Observation & Assessment
IV: Families & Communities
II V: Health, Safety, & Nutrition
V VI: Interactions & Children
VII: Program Planning & Development
IV VIII: Professional Development & Leadership

All Child Care Aware events are based off “Core

Competencies for Early Care and Education Professionals
in Kansas and Missouri”. Core Competencies define what
professionals need to know and be able to do to provide
quality care and education.

www.childstart.org
 Sumner

Rice
Butler
Location of event
Cowley

Reno
participants
Harper

McPherson Harvey
Marion
Kingman Other
Counties

“The trainings Child Care Aware provides

Sedgwick
has enabled my staff to provide a higher
level of care than ever before.”
-Anonymous Director,
from event evaluations

What will you do differently as a result of this training?

Tag cloud based on the responses on professional development event evaluations

www.childstart.org
Child Care Aware provides caregivers
with the resources and individual
help to increase the quality of care
Child Care Aware provided 5,000 instances of coaching and technical
assistance to parents, early childhood professionals, and community
members in 2010.
Special Projects
Infant/Toddler Recruitment Progra m
The Infant/Toddler Recruitment progra m increased slots in Kingman
and Harvey Counties for infants and toddlers in 2010 Participants in this
progra m received grants, training, observations and one-on-one coaching
from the Child Care Aware Infant/Toddler Recruitment Specialists.

Kansas Quality Rating Improvement System

(KQRIS)
KQRIS is a 5-Star quality rating system for child care centers, preschools,
Head Start facilities, faith-based preschool progra ms and fa mily child
care homes.
Participating child care progra ms receive a comprehensive assessment
that results in a 1-5 Star Quality Rating with 5 Stars as the highest possible
rating.

www.childstart.org
 Technical Assistance and Coaching (TA)
Child care
c professionals may run into
In Person
situations
situa that are difficult to resolve. Child
Care Aware Specialists help them tackle
Car
Phone Email
these
the situations and answer questions
to help provide a high quality learning
env
environment for children of all ages. The
graph to the left shows how TA was offered
in 2010.

The Playground
Opened in 2010, the Playground is
Child Start’s online community that
allows parents, providers, community,
and Child Start staff to interact,
share information and stories, and
learn about local events.

Currently, the Playground has

over 150 members and receives an
average of 300 visits a month.

www.childstart.org
Child Care Aware helps fa milies
identify quality child care and make
informed choices
In 2010, Child Care Aware helped over 7,000 parents seeking child care referrals and
information on quality child care.

Parents have 3 options to search for child care through Child Care Aware:
Calling the Child Care Aware toll-free nu mber: 1.800.684. 3962
Completing an online form to submit to the Call Center Referral Counselors
Searching for child care online using the NACCRRAware online search

“Your counselors were very nice and helpful.

They made me feel like they really cared
about helping me find the perfect day care
provider for my baby. They are very good
at what they do!” - Anonymous parent from
fa mily survey

www.childstart.org
The Referral progra m has over 3,000
providers to refer to fa milies searching
for care, divided out by the following care Center-based
types:
Group Home

Family Child Care

“The service was great! It helped me find

child care when I wasn't really sure where to
go or what to look for!”
- Anonymous parent from fa mily survey

No

80 fa milies who used the referral service were asked:

Do you feel more informed about quality child Yes

care because of the information you received?

-responses from fa mily survey

1000 Parent child care referral calls

800 by month in 2010
600

400

200
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

www.childstart.org
Child Care Aware collaborates with the
community to impact Kansas children
Child Care Aware staff attended an average of 14 community
meetings a month during 2010.

The meetings help align the goals of the community to make

children and fa milies a nu mber one priority in Kansas.

Child Care Aware

communicates regularly with
over 200 organizations located
throughout the district office
service delivery area.

www.childstart.org
 Growing With Children & Director’s Chair Conferences

Child Care Aware and Early Childhood

Director’s Organization (ECDO) come together
to bring the largest annual early childhood
conference in Kansas. This is Child Care
Aware of South Central Kansas’s annual
fundraiser.
in-service all in one day!”
Over 300 early childhood professionals
attended the 2010 Growing With Children
and Director’s Chair Conference. This event
offered 27 sessions for attendees to choose
from.
“I enjoy attending the
conference every year!
The food is great, along
with the vendors, and I enjoy
being able to get 6 hours of
- Growing With Children 2010
conference attendee, from
GWC evaluation

Over $8,000 was raised from this event for

Child Care Aware.

www.childstart.org
Child Care Aware leverages funding
from multiple sources to provide
quality services
In 2010, Child Care Aware received funding directly from the following sources:
• Child Care Aware of Kansas
• United Way of the Plains
• Smart Start of Reno County (Substitute Service)

The above funders receive funding from multiple sources and pass them on to Child Care Aware. These
sources include Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, Kansas Children’s Cabinet and
Trust Fund, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Early Childhood Associate Apprenticeship Progra m
and many other generous organizations and individuals.

Self Support
In addition to grants, Child Care Aware raises income to channel back into the progra m through the
following progra ms and events:

Growing With Children: Annual professional

development conference and fundraiser.

Caring 4 Kids: Substitute child

care provider progra m that provides
qualified substitutes to child care
facilities.

Professional Development: Fees paid by event

participants are fed directly back into offering the professional development events.

www.childstart.org
About Child Care Resource & Referral
progra ms
Child Care Aware of South Central Kansas is one of 7 independent Child Care Resource & Referral
Agencies (CCR&Rs) providing services to all 105 counties in Kansas. CCR&R is the nationwide initiative
that promotes and supports the availability of affordable, quality child care and early learning services.

CCR&Rs support fa milies who raise healthy children by...

Reaching out to parents by offering opportunities for technical assistance and written material.
Referring fa milies to local parenting workshops or support with helpful child development
information.

CCR&Rs improve the quality of child care by...

Supporting providers by offering professional development events on diverse topics such as
interacting with children, child growth and development and sound business practices.
Reaching out to providers with technical assistance contacts during on-site visits, phone
conversations, emails and through written material.

CCR&Rs bridge child care and education by...

Providing valuable technical assistance contacts to communities about the importance between
early learning and later success in school and by sharing written material.

CCR&Rs docu ment child care needs and trends by...

Acting as main sources of information about local supply and demand of child care.

Child Care Aware of Kansas is the administrator of the statewide Child

Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) network in Kansas. They support
fa milies and early childhood professionals all across Kansas through the local
CCR&Rs.

www.childstart.org
Early education is essential to reaching our goals for K-12
education—and our nation’s economy. Quality education
outcomes start with quality early childhood education.

Quality early education for children from birth to age five

prevents the achievement gap, increases school readiness
and builds a solid foundation for college, career and life
success.

The choice is clear. America can continue to remediate

from kindergarten through high school and beyond. Or, it
can recognize that education starts at birth and invest
in the foundation needed to develop a highly capable,
adaptive and productive citizen. Start building a better
US and invest in America’s greatest resource—its people.

-InvestInUs.org

www.childstart.org
Child Care Aware is comprised of
professionals ready to help....
Cheryl Dunn,
Outreach Director
Amitai Delgado,
Progra m Management Assistant

Marcy Cone Marilee Haney Clairissa Maddy,

Senior Manager, Senior Manager, Senior Manager,
Early Childhood Resource Services Call Center

Amber Ives Siophi Shepherd Lynda Demel

I/T Recruitment Specialist Scheduling Specialist Call Center Referral Counselor

Polly Banks Melissa Buche Shirley Lewis

I/T Recruitment Specialist Data Specialist Call Center Referral Counselor

Crystal Franks Lindy White

Infant/Toddler Specialist Workshop Clerk

Glenda Higbee Substitute Service

Infant/Toddler Specialist Substitutes

Tanya Hussleman
Infant/Toddler Specialist

Jacquette Thompson
Professional Development Specialist

Jackie Tanner
KQRIS Coach

Bev Ada ms
KQRIS Coach

www.childstart.org
 Child Care Aware of South Central Kansas
Advocates for rights of parents and children to have access to
affordable, high quality child care, through safe, nurturing
environments. In addition, Child Care Aware advocates for rights of
children to reach kindergarten ready to succeed.

Child Care Aware of

South Central Kansas

Contact Us:

316-682-1853
1-800-684-3962