School-age child care - Girls clubs offering services

Children Today, Sept-Oct, 1984

School-Age Child Care

Many working parents of school-age children may not take advantage of the services offered by youth groups because they have no means of transporting their children between school and the organization's after-school activities.

A number of Girls Clubs of America are answering this need by providing pick-up services as well as quality after-school child care programs. The Spring 1984 issue of Voice for Girls, published three times a year by the Girls Clubs of America, Inc., New York City, describes several of these efforts.

At the Fort Worth, Tex., Girls Club, for example, staff members pick up enrolled members, who pay a weekly sliding scale fee based on parents' salaries, at 35 local schools and take them back to the club for a free snack and activities until parents pick them up.

In Wilmington, N.C., club vans have transported girls from 11 elementary schools, six junior high schools and one housing project to one of the three Girls clubs in the city. Daily transportation has more than doubled from last year due to increased demand.

Many clubs also provide transportation from their sites. The Kingsport, Tenn., Girls Club, for example, returns girls and boys to 21 schools or apartment complexes where a large percentage of the members live. This program is a collaborative effort of the Girls Club with the local Boys Club--an arrangement that has proved a great solution to both clubs.

Instead of taking the kids to and from the club, the Girls club of Jefferson County, Ind., goes to the kids. "A staff member travels to a different county school four days a week throughout the school year to present after-school programs similar to those offered at our downtown club," reports Program Director Susan Rich.

And "Survival Day" at the Hagerstown, Md., Girls Club fills yet another need: what to do with children when school is closed. There, the program operates from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on most scheduled school closing days.