In newspapers across the country, there is a continuing debate about early child care outside the home. Yet, as a result of welfare reform, religious congregations nationwide also are noticing a growing need for such care–and taking steps to provide it.
One indicator is the number of monthly telephone calls to the Ecumenical Child Care Network from congregations seeking to initiate early child-care programs: Since welfare reform began one year ago, the number has doubled.
At first glance, this is wonderful news. Churches have seen the need for increased early child care and have stepped up to offer their big hearts, beautiful buildings and long-standing links with the community. What better place to take your child than a church, synagogue or mosque? As an advocate and resource for congregational child-care programs, the ECCN applauds their continued interest.
ECCN encourages all providers, especially religious centers, to follow the basic health and safety guidelines required for licensing. Though many states allow a religious exemption from these rules, the regulations should be applied universally, so all providers offer the same level of child care.
We encourage all congregations to seek formal accreditation, and to examine their compliance with health and safety standards.
Providing early childhood education and care to young children demands staff who are highly trained and motivated, and fairly compensated. The tuition charged by congregations that provide child care typically is not enough to hire and retain the best professional staff; ECCN can assist with the necessary cost analyses.
Our work is critical to the success of our most precious resource–our children. Scientists have shown that most brain development occurs before age 4 and that these early years greatly affect lifelong learning and successful human development. We must provide our children with quality, developmentally appropriate, nurturing, and educationally stimulating care.
ECCN wants to support the development of a congregation’s knowledge and understanding of early childhood education and care, brain development of young children, facility management, administration, liability issues and proper fee structuring. This will support the innate care for children that congregations tend to possess.
ECCN is proud that religious communities around the country have embraced the need to provide early child care. ECCN works with other religious constituencies that link more than 12,000 congregation-based child-care providers, early childhood educators, advocates and leaders in a partnership to ensure high-quality, equitable child care for all our nation’s children.
We are working on a national level to address these and other issues with leaders of all the denominations. Our goal is that congregations that do enter the early child-care arena will partner with us to provide quality early care and education to our children.
For more information about the support the Ecumenical Child Care Network can give a congregation, call 800-649-5443.
