| Meet the Provider |
| Hello, my name is Marie. I am a state licensed child care provider in Chesapeake, Virginia. My capacity is 12 children ranging from birth through 10 years of age. I am also a USDA Food Program participant. I became a care giver in 1984 when my daughter was still young. I was only going to do this job for a year or 2 until my child was old enough to stay home on her own. Little did I know I would be in this business long enough to have a "second generation" of daycare children come through my door! |
I was born in Brooklyn, NY; moved to the "country" Warwick, (Orange County) NY when I was 5; Graduated from Warwick Valley High School in 1965. I have had a variety of jobs where I had to perform many tasks at the same time which prepared me for becoming a child care provider. I was a long distance operator in North Carolina and New York, machine operator for Avon Cosmetics and a rubber gasket company in New York and a receptionist for 2 companies; one in New York and the other in Virginia. I moved to Virginia in 1980. When I first started my day care business, there were no support groups or provider associations in my area. I did, however, have a wonderful husband who supported me by encouraging me all the time. I started networking with other providers as quickly as possible as this is a very isolated job. In no time at all, providers were calling me up letting me know they had openings in case I knew of parents looking for care. Shortly thereafter, I started a child care resource and referral service called "The Daycare Connection". The membership grew to over 500 providers very rapidly which was a good thing since I was receiving calls from parents at the rate of 100 calls each week. I could only keep up the pace of running a full time child care business and a referral service for 9 years and sadly closed down The Daycare Connection. After 4 years of not doing referrals, I still receive calls from parents looking for care asking me if I still help parents find child care providers. In 1990 I was one of eight providers invited to Richmond to help develop the regulations that would establish the Commonwealth of Virginia's Voluntary Registration Program. This program regulates the smaller family day care homes with five or fewer children in care. In 1994 I became a Virginia Alliance of Family Child Care Associations board of director. I held the positions of membership chair and newsletter editor for six years. From 2001 to 2004 I co-chaired the Alliance's State Child Care Training Conference. I was active in the formation of the Southern Virginia Family child Care Association in 1994. I held the offices of Treasurer and Membership Coordinator until 2000. In September 2001, I co-founded Professional Family Child-Care and Early Education Association. Once again I became Treasurer and Membership Chair. In March 2002, I was the coordinator for our first fundraiser which we called our "Child Care Extravaganza". This event was such a huge success with our members and the public, we have hosted the Extravaganza every year in the spring. I presented 2 workshops in August 2002 with the proceeds going to a special scholarship fund for our 60 members who wished to attend the Virginia State Training Conference. I am a firm believer in continuing education for child care providers. I attend as many workshops, conferences and seminars as I can and I am active in promoting and presenting training opportunities for providers on the local, state, and national levels. I have attended 15 of the Virginia Alliance state conferences as well as one of New Jersey's state conferences. I also attended the National Association For Family Child Care conferences in: 1996 in Sacramento, CA. 2002 in Reston, VA 2007 in Anaheim, CA 2008 in Chicago, IL In order to maintain a Virginia State Child Care License, I must have a minimum of six training hours each year. Here are the number of training hours I have received: 2000 - 41.75 hours 2001 - 22.5 2002 - 29 2003 - 47 2008 - 25 2004 - 19 2005 - 37.5 2006 - 29 2007 - 28.75 In 2009 I have received the following training hours: January 2 hours February 2 hours March April May June July August September October November |
| March 29, 2003 |
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