Helping families with young children: two food stamp offices find day care helpful in many ways

Food and Nutrition, Fall-Winter, 1989 by Mary Jane Getlinger, Susan Young

Helping Families With Young Children

"I'm tired!"

"I want to go home."

"Aren't we done yet?"

Imagine yourself--a parent--waiting with your children in a welfare office to be interviewed by an eligibility worker. Talking with the worker, your attention is shifted to the children, who are tired and do not want to be there. You find it difficult to concentrate on questions and answers, and the children's presence is limiting your ability to be frank about family circumstances.

The situation can be uncomfortable for the caseworkers as well. "It is hard for me to interview when children are dismantling my desk," says Jean Martin, financial assistance worker in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "Distractions break down the communication process and increase the possibility of making errors."

Knowing that children are not able to sit still for a long time with nothing to do, two food stamp offices in the Midwest have come up with a creative solution--on-site child care services. The child care facilities are free and are designed to provide children a place to be while their parents are visiting the welfare office.

The two counties--Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and Ionia County, Michigan--Are demographically different, yet both have successful child care operations demonstrating that this is a viable concept in both large and small counties.

Milwaukee County's

Children's Corner

Milwaukee County Department of Social Services issues 46 percent of the food stamps used in Wisconsin.

Located in a converted department store, the Milwaukee County office handles AFDC, general assistance, child support, and other services. The child care facility, called Children's Corner, is located on the first floor near the main entrance.

"Children's Corner has operated since July 1987 under a conract with Carter's Child Development Center, a local child care provider," says Gwen Agee, supervisor of Children's Corner.

"At one time, the facility was located in the basement and was staffed by volunteers, but this was inconvenient and unsuccessful. Under contract with Carter's, we now serve an average of 100 children per month at a monthly cost to the county of $1,200," she says.

The center is designed to care for children between the ages of 2 and 7 but will accept infants or older children under special circumstances.

Agee has had several years of child care experience in addition to having worked as a teacher's aide in the Chicago Public School system before moving to Milwaukee. She is assisted by Dorothy Myles, a former welfare recipient, who began working at Carter's through a general assistance workfare program.

Myles, now employed full-time by Carter's Child Care, has completed 80 hours of training offered by Carter's to receive certificates to work with toddlers and children.

"we are here to cater to the children's needs," says Myles, who is proud of having successfully made the transition from welfare to work. "We schedule a nutritious snack time, but if children come saying they are hungry, we arrange for something to eat."

After snacks is a story time, followed by a variety of activities and play. The center is stocked with games and toys appropriate to various age groups.

Agee says she structures the day at the Children's Corner to provide different activities, such as art and music, at different times throughout the day. "Art projects are always a favorite activity," she says, "and music gives the children a chance to unwind and express their feelings."

Ionia County's

"Kid's Corner"

Ionia County, in Michigan, is as small and rural as Milwaukee County is large and urban. it issues $200,000 worth of food stamps every month to 14,000 households. Like Milwaukee County, the Ionia County Department of Social Services handles AFDC, general assistance, child support, and other programs in addition to the Food Stamp Program. It has operated Kid's Corner since 1986.

Kid's Corner is directed by Ionia County social services volunteer coordinator Gary Grant, who recruits and assigns volunteers who work with Kid's Corner supervisor Reva Bell. Bell is a participant in the Department of Labor's Green Thumb senior community service program, which pays her salary.

"To participate in Green Thumb, Bell had to be over 55 and willing and able to dot he job," says Grant. Although she has not had formal child care training, Bell has had plenty of first-hand experience. She raised 16 children and has 60 grandchildren.

Lynna Dygert, assistance payment worker, estimates that one-third of the mothers use the center. "Child care has been a help. I suggest it when a child becomes a problem," she says. Between 80 to 120 children from newborn to age 12 visit the center each month.

"My goal is to bring out the child's imagination in playing," says Bell. There is no set schedule for Kid's Corner--they learn ABC's, do crafts, and read. "We try to listen to what the children have to say--sometimes all they need is a hug," she says.

The center is run with very little financial support from the county. The annual budget is only $300, and most of that money is earmarked for snacks. "We rely on donations and imagination to operate the center," says Bell.