EXCERPT FROM: Examiner
By Richard Webster
Your kids’ toddler days are magical times; but finding day-care for children under a certain age is often next to impossible.
Now, the Maryland State Department of Education’s Division of Early Childhood Development has awarded eight infant and toddler expansion grants totaling $160,599. The grants, provided through the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), are to increase the number of infant and toddler child care spaces in regulated family child care homes and licensed child care centers in the State.
While more than 150,000 infants and toddlers are cared for in regulated child care in Maryland, the demand for infant and toddler child care exceeds the current supply of spaces available to families, especially for those families with limited incomes.
In FY 2011, the four child care centers and four family child care homes that received the grants will provide professional development and staff training, minor facility construction and renovation, recruitment of additional staff, supplies, equipment, and materials for additional infants and toddlers.