The Ontario Network of Home Child Care Provider Groups (ONET) provides home-based child care providers and caregiver groups with support, information, resource services and a provincial voice for home child care.
What is ONET?
Membership
Benefits of Membership
By joining ONET each association and child care provider will:
The steering committee of the National Family Child Care Training Project met in June to discuss their current projects.
Level 2 of the Family Child Care Training has been developed and pilot tested in 8 communities throughout Canada. The networks in Bolton and Thunder Bay piloted the training. After some small changes are made level 2 will be available to all networks who wish to use it. I strongly encourage all networks to get copies of the Family Child Care Training and use the individual units as workshops or discussion groups if you do not have the time or people to provide a whole training course. The information contained in the units is practical for all caregivers, whether you have provided care for years or are just starting up. The units provide information that is great for stimulating discussions and the sharing of new ideas. Give it a try this year and let us know what you think of the units. It is important that we always get feedback and new ideas from your group. The information you provide can be used in the updates of the various levels or as new information in the level yet to be developed.
The Level 3 Family Child Care Training is starting to be developed and hopefully will be ready to pilot test in the spring of 2003. If your network would like the chance to pilot test this level please contact me. I will keep you up to date on the progress.
The Networks in Ottawa and Thunder Bay were chosen as case study sites. These sites provided information on how they connected with the unlicensed child care providers to provide support and training.
The draft copy of the Quality in Home Child Care paper was discussed and only minor changes will be made before it is released to the public and available for discussion. It is important that everyone reads this information as it represents what we do as a whole group and what we believe to be true about quality in the home child care setting. To receive a copy for your group or you as an individual please contact me. Also provide any feedback about the paper, it is important and no comments are ignored. They are discussed by the steering committee and changes made if the majority agree. Please be involved, it is important to promote Home Child Care throughout the child care sector, locally, provincially and nationally. If you have any questions please fell free to contact me.
Sincerely
Diane Mitchell
(807) 624-5698
(807) 622-3980 fax
[email protected]
Hello Everyone,
We have been busy here in Ottawa. I hope all is well with you, with a vacation time blocked off on your calendar. Don�t we all need one right about now?
The Ottawa child care scene is busy with a Task Force on Home Child Care formed at the end of April. I applied and was accepted along with 4 other caregivers, three directors from licensed agencies, two parent reps (from licensed agencies), a psychologist, and policy analyst, to a total of fifteen around the table. There is also a city rep and a city secretary.
Our mandate is to change the home child care model in Ottawa. Wow!
Our responsibilities are to look at reducing the administrative cost ($70.000,000.) of home child care. To look at the wide gap in provider rates. To examine the feasibility of developing a system based on training and accreditation of independent service providers, instead of licensing. To effectively address the issue of the provider as an employee (in licensed care). Conduct research, hold public meetings and provide a forum for the child care community to raise issues and concerns. Finally to prepare a final report to the City. All has to be accomplished by the end of December 2002. We are in the gathering information mode at present.
The Elora Group has received some Challenge Fund money to look at accreditation for home child care providers. Ann Bird met with me Monday July 15 to look at how ONET and/or CCPRN can be part of the process. I will keep you informed.
All of our Early Years Centres (7) are up and running.They are offering exciting information to caregivers and parents. CCPRN is part of 4 city-wide services to the Early Years Centres and offers workshops and support to caregivers.
What is new and interesting in your neck of the woods? Please drop me a line or e-mail me.[email protected]
Take care, Andrea
CHAIR�S MESSAGE
As a long term home child care provider, I feel I provide the quality of care I would want my children to receive. But when asked to identify those characteristics that make it a quality environment I must pause and reflect. I feel a quality home child care setting can mean different things to different people and when potential clients are interviewed each of us is looking for the �right fit� or blend of those qualities we deem important.
Recently Gillian Doherty, Ph.D. published a paper on �Quality in the Context of Family Child Care� which addresses the fundamental characteristics of a quality home child care environment. Home/family child care is the major, and in many cases, the preferred child care choice for parents in Canada.
�Several longitudinal studies have demonstrated that high quality child care enhances children�s school readiness.. and.. the benefits of are reflected in the academic performance of the children in later grades.
One of these studies was conducted in family child care homes in British Columbia and followed the children until they were 17 or 18 years old. Those who obtain ed the highest scores on a standard measure of language and cognitive development as three and four year olds were in family child care homes, where there was a greater frequency of two-way conversation between provider and children, where children were more frequently read to or with, and where they had greater access to interactive activities such as art, music and puzzles and to outdoor play.�
Dr. Doherty�s paper summarizes the �vision of quality in family child care held by three primary stakeholders � user parents, family child care providers, and society at large as represented by the opinions of people involved in regulating family child care.� There was agreement by the stakeholders that the primary purpose of family child care was to enhance and support children�s development.
There was agreement on quality family child care situations:
The providers in the study also felt this vision included a provider who knew her own limits and acted on this knowledge. The importance of sound business practices was also cited by both providers and training/accreditation/credentialing programmes.
Space prevents me from expanding on these child care situations but Dr. Dorherty�s full report can be obtained by contacting me at [email protected]
*Source: �Quality in the Context of Family Child care�, Family Child Care Training Project: Supporting Early Childhood Development, Learning and Care in Family Child Care Settings. By Gillian Doherty, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph.
More information on ONET:
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ONET Membership
ONET Representative Directory for 2000
ONET Guiding Principles