After-school child care: dilemma in a rural community - Project Home Safe, American Home Economics Home Association, Arkansas

Children Today, Jan-Feb, 1992 by Mary M. Warnock

What do you do if you are a parent who has moved to a rural community in Arkansas, have a child entering the first grade, need after-school care and discover that none is available? The solution should be simple. You request a list of day care providers from the county department of human services and begin calling to find an opening. But suppose there is no list of day care facilities and no resources to locate even a "baby sitter." The question arises again. What do you do about afterschool child care?

The parent in this situation came to the conclusion that if she needed after-school child care, so did other parents, and that a solution for this problem had to be found. The solution came in the form of Project Home Safe, an American Home Economics Association (AHEA) program that is sponsored by the Whirlpool Foundation and provides training? technical assistance, materials and other resources to promote solutions to the school-aged child care problem.[1]

The AHEA conducted a three-day workshop to provide information on establishing after-school child care programs, different alternatives to afterschool programs (phone call system, block supervision, etc.), the availability of local grant funds, what constitutes a quality child care program, and the qualifications for child care providers. Following the workshop, each attendee was asked to perform 40 hours of community service related to activities for latchkey children. Because of the need for after-school child care in the rural Arkansas community discussed in this article, the decision was made to use those 40 or more hours to launch an after-school child care program.

Getting Started

In order for this idea to be successful, it had to be supported by every segment of the community. The first step was to establish a broad-based community coalition composed of decision makers who could open doors in establishing an afterschool child care program.[2] Initially, those chosen were the elementary school principal, city mayor, executive vice president of the local bank, and a school board member, lawyer and home economist.

Coalition members were enthusiastic about the program and expressed concern for latchkey children who roamed the streets or remained behind closed doors after school with no supervision. The coalition decided to create a quality afterschool child care program for children in grades K-6. As defined by the coalition, quality meant trained adult supervision, nutritious snacks, a tutoring program for homework assignments, educational activities, and lots of love and encouragement for the formation of positive self-images.[3]

The next issue to be tackled was funding. Because no local funds were available, other revenue sources had to be found. A speaker at the Project Home Safe workshop from the Arkansas Department of Human Services described how Dependent Care Grants could be used to inaugurate new after-school child care services.

One prerequisite of obtaining a Dependent Care Grant was to perform a Needs Assessment Survey. A copy of the survey was given to each of the 375 children attending the local elementary school in grades K-6 so that a parent or guardian could complete it. A total of 106 surveys were returned. Data indicated that children were staying with relatives or were classified as latchkey. While the survey information did not demonstrate the need for an after-school child care program, it did not dampen the determination of the community coalition to move forward in establishing such a program.

Application was made for a grant and the program received approximately $4,000 as seed money. With the coalition intact and money acquired, a location was required to house the program. Although the elementary school principal and faculty were approached concerning use of the school cafeteria, the proposal was vetoed. The second choice for a program site was a community center, but the community did not have one. Only one other facility in town--a gymnasium attached to the fellowship hall of a local church--was spacious enough to provide accommodations and came equipped with kitchen and restroom facilities.

The coalition chairperson discussed various features of the program with the church deacons, who supported the idea of providing accommodations for the program. After assurances that the children would not be allowed to enter the sanctuary or classrooms, the church membership voted to allow the after-school child care program to be housed in the church gymnasium and to have the use of kitchen and restroom facilities. The minister and one church deacon were asked to become members of the coalition. A director was recruited to oversee development of a registration form, parent's manual, medical and field trip policies, and brochures.

Because the gymnasium is two miles from the school, transportation became an important issue. The public school system superintendent was contacted and permission was granted for children participating in the after-school child care program to ride one of the school buses that already passed the church.[4] Arrangements were made for the bus to enter the church parking lot, where the children could be dropped off.