From Early Childhood Focus

Apple Valley / Child care gives Guard families a break

Posted in: Minnesota

By Sheila Holland
July 31, 2007

Raising two girls was more than a full-time job for Lisa Anderson when her husband was deployed last year to Afghanistan with the Army National Guard.

"It was tough," the Apple Valley mom said earlier this week. "You can't do anything - it was 'Mama, Mama, Mama.' I had to be responsible for absolutely everything."

But Anderson found help from Surge Support Child Care Services, a pilot program in the state offering free Saturday day care for children with a parent deployed or on respite leave from the Army National Guard. She took her daughters Lauren, 3, and Jacqueline, 7, three times since May to New Horizon Academy in Apple Valley. The kids painted and ate healthy foods. But their favorite activity was playing with a whimsical apple tree.

"The children loved it," she said. "More importantly, it was a center that was certified. I was very comfortable leaving them there."

Anderson used the time to run errands, clean the house - and even get a massage.

Parents with spouses home on respite also can use the service to have quality time together.

"When people hear about this, they may think, 'Oh, big deal, you get a couple quick minutes by yourself.' But it's so much greater than that," said spokeswoman Elizabeth Cooper, of the Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network, a nonprofit working to ensure families have quality, affordable day care .

The program began as collaboration among the Minnesota network, its national group and the U.S. Army Family and Morale Welfare and Recreation Command. The program's purpose is to alleviate some burdens put on families of deployed soldiers, said Julie Wasiluk, who coordinates the project for the Minnesota network.

The pilot program started in Minnesota because this year's large number of deployed soldiers affects 3,700 children statewide, Wasiluk said. Although a group of 2,600 Minnesota soldiers recently returned, Wasiluk said, others are being deployed.

It's those families that continue using the Saturday program, Cooper said.

"Locally, there was a real need," Cooper said. "The large deployments have made a lot of lives complex for families and children. This is something that we can do to help."

The Minnesota network received more than $112,000 from its national group and the Army for the project, including training providers, recruiting providers and finding families.

If the pilot is a success, it could become a national model.

So far, eight day care centers participate in the program, mostly in rural Minnesota. But at least three additional centers will be offering the service, including ones in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Wasiluk said more day care centers are needed.

Child care centers interested in offering the program need to have room for at least 50 children. Participating centers are reimbursed $50 per child each session.

A child can receive day care up to two days a month for up to six months. Centers offer the program for eight hours twice a month. There are no financial requirements.

The number of families using the program is being tracked.

"Word is really getting out to families," Cooper said.

Although few parents are using the program in Apple Valley, it's taking off for Arena Early Learning Center in Brooklyn Center. Antonio Smith, director of the center, said up to 20 children have used the Saturday day care. At least six families use it regularly.

Full text available at the Pioneer Press