Role playing exercises provided opportunties for participants
to share personal
insights about relative child care while enhancing problem solving skills.
What is the nature of Kith and Kin care? What are the concerns and interests of these caregivers? How can we improve the quality of care that children receive from Kith and Kin caregivers?
These issues were addressed by Toni Porter and Rena Rice, nationally known educators and researchers from the Bank Street College of Education in New York during a two-day training workshop in Montgomery for the Kith and Kin initiative of the Alabama Child Care Consortium. Thirty-two individuals participated in some or all of the workshop sessions. Participants included representatives from the Alabama Department of Human Resources, the Alabama Child Care Consortium, Civitan International Research Center, Child Care Management Agencies, Head Start, and recently hired Kith and Kin Child Care Partners.
The training in Montgomery was organized by VOICES for Alabama’s Children as part of their collaborative effort with the Alabama Child Care Consortium to plan and implement Kith and Kin activities in Alabama. VOICES has hired 12 child care partners to work directly with relative care providers in 7 areas of the state. Kith and Kin Child Care Partners are currently located in Mobile, Montgomery, Sumter/Marengo, Crenshaw, Macon, Jefferson, and Tuscaloosa counties. These areas were identified by the Alabama Child Care Management Agencies as having large concentrations of kith and kin providers relative to other parts of the state. Their first efforts will concentrate on organizing community partner committees, identifying relative care providers, and conducting focus groups.
Based on the Bank Street philosophy of education and learning, Rice and Porter believe that adult's learn best by actively participating in the learning process and then reflecting on what they have learned. In this spirit, much of the workshop was interactive. Child care partners, and other workshop participants worked in small groups and role played while learning about child development and discipline, language and literacy, parent-caregiver relationships, and adult learning styles. Practical information such as how to go about locating caregivers, how to set up focus groups, and how to encourage community support for the initiative was covered as well. Since 1997, The Institute for a Child Care Continuum at Bank Street College has been engaged in work with family, friends, and neighbors who provide child care for other people's children. Its new effort, the National Kith and Kin Child Care Initiative aims to achieve acceptance of kith and kin child care as an integral part of the child care system.
Discussions ranged from language to literacy..
"All the information was very valuable but I particularly liked the discussion about language and literacy," said Amy Steenwyk, a child care partner from Birmingham. "It helps those of us who will be working in the community to better aid caregivers in their efforts to help their relatives’ children succeed."
Wanda Johnson, administrative assistant for the Kith and Kin Initiative and a mother of a two-year-old daughter said, "the training was very helpful on a personal level. I learned how to creatively teach my daughter through songs and play."
The Institute for a Child Care Continuum at Bank Street College is engaged in work with family, friends, and neighbors who provide child care for other people's children. Its new effort, the National Kith and Kin Child Care Initiative aims to achieve acceptance of kith and kin child care as an integral part of the child care system.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Kith and Kin project in your area, please call Lydia Clifton or Carolyn Bern at VOICES for Alabama’s Children at 1-800-444-KIDS.