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|  | News Items Posted On: March 6, 2006
Showing stories 1 - 6 of 6.
NC - Child care to get funds
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, March 06 @ 10:40:54 EST by emohan
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The Forsyth County Department of Social Services learned yesterday that it will get an additional $350,000 from the state of North Carolina to pay for child care subsidies for needy families. The news came three days after the department's director said publicly that 200 local children could lose their subsidies.
"That's good news," Joe Raymond, the county's director of social services, said after learning of the additional money. "I'm very confident that we won't have to take any action that will result in the loss of service to any individual or family."
The extra money comes as a relief to a department that is strapped for cash, and it highlights the precarious nature of financing for child care subsidies statewide.
Experts in the field of social services say that government-subsidized child care is a critical tool to help poor families with young children because it helps parents who work.
But throughout North Carolina, only 95,000 children - less than a third of those eligible for child care subsidies - get the service, said Nancy Guy, the head of the subsidy-services section at the N.C. Division of Child Development.
Full text available at the Winston Salem Journal
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NH - Lynch wants child care records online
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, March 06 @ 10:36:35 EST by emohan
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Gov. John Lynch has instructed the state Bureau of Child Care Licensing to place violations by New Hampshire’s child care facilities online within 30 days.
“The information that parents need to make good decisions is too hard to get right now,” Lynch said.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesman said last month parents can review files at the bureau and take copies home, but two reporters for The Nashua Telegraph were told they could not review records at will.
A bureau employee first needs to separate public and nonpublic information before anyone off the street can look at the materials, Child Care Licensing Bureau head Wendy Kessler said.
Lynch said he promised the bureau “all of the information technology resources” it needs to follow his directive.
New Hampshire has 1,200 licensed child care facilities with capacity for 46,000 children. The state licenses facilities that care for more than three children. The licensing bureau inspects facilities and investigates public complaints.
Full text available at the Union Leader
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PA - Head Start programs deal with budget cuts
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, March 06 @ 10:31:19 EST by emohan
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Federally funded programs like Head Start and Early Intervention -- which provide subsidized child care services and specialized care for special-needs preschoolers, respectively -- have experienced crippling budget cuts for the current fiscal year.
But as Early Intervention faces a complete shutdown without the necessary funds, efforts to partner with local child care facilities may prevent Head Start from slipping into a similar fiscal limbo.
According to Leon Spencer, Head Start program supervisor for the Chester County Intermediate Unit that oversees the administration of the countywide program, all Head Start programs nationally are experiencing a 1 percent "de-funding." The reduction, however, should not have an immediate effect on any local Head Start centers.
"At this point, we’re not closing down by any means," Spencer said. "What we have to do is look for ways to be more fiscally sound, find ways to continue having quality programs without operating in the red."
Head Start provides preschool services for low-income families. Children 3 to 5 years old are eligible for the program, which also supplies health and dental screenings along with developmentally appropriate educational services.
Full text available at The Daily Local
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WY - Child care bill moves closer to approval
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, March 06 @ 10:26:22 EST by emohan
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Two key Senate committees have approved a bill that would start the process of state government rating and subsidizing child-care centers. The measure will likely go to the full Senate this week.
The Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday both approved a House child-care bill.
The House this week reduced funding, changing a plan that would have given the Wyoming Department of Family Services $14 million for the program, beginning this year.
The current version of the bill calls for Family Services to receive $1.2 million this year and use the money to develop a rating system for child-care centers. The bill gives the department until Nov. 15 to give legislators a progress report. The Legislature would decide next year whether to release $12.9 million for the program.
Full text available at the Billings Gazette
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Kids, parents eager to try new braille book format
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, March 06 @ 10:23:05 EST by emohan
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Reading children's books in braille used to be frustrating for Eric Ligon and his 8-year-old son. When Ethan read the braille, his hands would cover up the nearby printed words, making it hard for his father to offer help.
"It wasn't a very fluid process, reading that way," Ligon said.
So Ligon, a visual arts professor at the University of North Texas, decided to make it easier. He designed books with the original print and illustrations at the top of the page, and printed words on top of the braille at the bottom of the page.
His books could be a breakthrough for blind and sighted readers who want to enjoy books together, according to national experts. Ethan, a third-grader who has been blind since he was a baby, has deemed them "pretty cool."
Ligon's design could help parents and others who don't know braille, said Karen Wolffe, director of professional development for the American Foundation for the Blind.
"I think what Eric's got is ideal for very, very young readers," Wolffe said. "Those are the folks that are typically truly needing their parents to sit beside them and read."
Of the 1.3 million legally blind people in the United States, about 55,200 are children, according to Wolffe's foundation. About 5,500 of those children use mainly braille, while others may have enough sight to read print or might use books on tape.
Full text available at The Eagle
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WY - Partnership tackles Rawlins child care needs
Submitted by emohan. Posted on Monday, March 06 @ 10:17:51 EST by emohan
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The Carbon County Higher Education Center and Wyoming Department of Corrections have formed a partnership to help care for the children of both organizations.
The education center is a Board of Cooperative Higher Education Services outreach of Western Wyoming College. The Department of Corrections runs the state penitentiary system in Rawlins.
Higher Education Center Director Joan Evans said the child-care facility will be able to serve 37 children up to age 12. It will have an operating budget of about $400,000 a year, approximately half of which will be generated from payments by parents.
The new center will help fill a gap in local child-care services, Evans said.
"I don't know of any centers that really emphasize early childhood education. And that, of course, will be the emphasis of our center," she said.
It also will help address a shortage of child-care services for students and working families.
Students at the Higher Education Center frequently have reported the reason they don't take more classes is a lack of child care, or have identified problems finding child care as a reason they left school all together.
Workers at the state prison face similar problems, Evans added, and a lack of child care has been related to high absenteeism and has been cited as a reason why people leave their jobs.
Full text available at the Jackson Hole Star Tribune
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