| Building Families Newsletter December 2008 |
Building Families Vision:
Every child, beginning at birth, will be healthy and successful.
Building Families Mission:
Building Families’ mission is for children, youth, and families to live in safe and nurturing environments that promote health, independence and success. Building Families will create a continuum of supports and services that embrace children and their families.
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| Meet the New Child Care Director at Learn and Play Center |
Heidi Gulliford is the newest employee at Learn and Play, Humboldt’s Childcare Center. Heidi will fill the position as Director with excellent experience in the early childhood field.
After graduating from Humboldt High School as Heidi Rasmussen, she went on to earn a BS degree from University of Northern Iowa in early childhood and elementary education. Upon graduation she has been employed as a preschool teacher and at a child care center in the Des Moines area. The latest position was at Children’s Place located at the Farm Bureau home office which is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. This is the highest accreditation given to child care centers. Welcome Heidi, to Building Families Empowerment area!
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| New Rules for Professional Development for Child Care Providers (DHS) |
This year Building Families asked child care providers, registered and non-registered to complete a survey. As indicated on the survey’s, providers stated that it was very important to take training that fulfills state requirements (62%) and helps to improve the quality of care (62%). 86% believed that a set of standards for training for child care providers needs to be in place and 79% reported they believed that all child care programs should be regulated for quality. According to Iowa Code Chapter 109, the training requirements for registered providers have been updated. Note the available trainings that apply to each section. (This is not a complete list of changes.)
The following rules have been amended into the child care regulations for training:
1) Two hours of for mandatory child abuse reporting within the first three months of registration as a child development home and every 5 years after.
2) First aid training within the first three months of registration as a child development home including infant and child first aid that includes management of a blocked airway and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
3) During the first year of registration, the provider shall receive a minimum of 12 hours of training from one or more of the following content areas; 6 hours in a group setting and 2 of the hours must be from:
a) Planning a safe, healthy learning environment including nutrition. (ChildNet, Welcome to Childcare, New Staff Orientation)
b) Steps to advance children’s physical and intellectual development (Welcome to Childcare, Early Learning Standards)
c) Positive ways to support children’s social and emotional development (Positive Behavior Supports)
d) Strategies to establish productive relationships with families (PITC, Creative Curriculum)
e) Strategies to manage an effective program operations (Business Basics, Beyond Business Basics)
f) Maintaining a commitment to professionalism (Creative Curriculum, New Staff Orientation)
g) Observing and recording children’s behavior (Creative Curriculum)
h) Principles of child growth and development (Early Learning Standards, Every Child Reads, PITC, New Staff Orientation, ChildNet)
4) During the second year of registration and each succeeding year, 12 hours of training from one or more of the content areas as defined above.
To locate training in any of these topics, contact CCR&R, Child Care Nurse Consultant, empowerment, AEA, a University or Community College, Hospitals, or Public Health.
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Help Us Evaluate! We need your assessments! If your agency has done a survey, assessment or evaluation of needs in your community, we need the information! Building Families Board will be using the information to update our community plan. Please share by sending your information to Ann Stewart at 500 Fair Meadow Drive, Suite A, Webster City, IA, 50595.
Thank You So Much!--Ann
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Thank You!
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| FutureNet CAPP approved Curriculum 2008-2009 |
Did you know that our country is the only leading nation in the world that does not fund comprehensive sex education? Health information is a right. It is our moral and ethical responsibility to give young people full knowledge of their reproductive system. Without it they will not make healthy choices. FutureNet, the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program grant manager, has identified six science based comprehensive sexuality education curriculum for communities to use in educating their youth.
Becoming a Responsible Teen: focuses on HIV prevention, sex education, and behavioral skills training. Eight sessions, each lasting 1-1/2 to 2 hours are delivered once per week. This curriculum focuses on Urban youth ages 14-18 and has similar outcomes as Safer Choices.
Draw the Line: Curriculum helps students develop personal sexual limits and practice the skills needed to maintain those limits. It consists of 19 sessions running from grade 6, 7 and 8. The curriculum reinforces making healthy choices about the youth’s sexual lives and presents abstinence in a very positive, affirming way.
Reducing the Risk is sex-education curriculum that includes sixteen 45-90 minute sessions on abstinence and contraception and focuses on high school youth. The outcome is increased use of contraception among sexually active youth.
Safer Choices: This is a HIV/STI (Sexually Transmitted Infections) and teen pregnancy prevention curriculum. It includes twenty sessions, each lasting on class period, divided evenly over two years. The focus of this curriculum is high school students in 9th or 10th grade. The outcomes include increased condom use, delayed sexual debut, increased HIV testing, reduced incidence of unprotected sex, and increased use of effective contraception.
Making Proud Choices: This curriculum is a safer sex approach to reducing STD's, HIV and teen pregnancy. Eight-one hour curriculum classes address attitudes and beliefs and are for ages 11-13. This curriculum has the same outcomes as Safer Choices with the addition of increased negotiation skills, improved condom use, and the ability to negotiate safer sex.
SiHLE is a STI and HIV community-based prevention program for African American youth in health clinics. Four, four hour interactive group sessions, held on consecutive Saturdays for sexually active African American females, ages 14-18. The outcome is the reduced number of sexual partners and incidence of unprotected sex.
Contact Tiffany Larson, Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coordinator for Hamilton, Humboldt and Wright Counties for assistance in obtaining curriculum, information, or presentations. 515-832-1791 EX: 204
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Want to learn more about QRS and IQPPS? Presentations will be given at the next Building Families Board meeting on December 22nd at 3pm. You are invited to attend.
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Marj Wonderlich: Provides technical assistance and education to preschools, childcare centers and providers. She assists with CDA, IQPPS, room arrangement, curriculum ideas, training and anything you need for your program to reach quality standards.
Amy Shannon: Registration compliance checks and technical assistance to maintain compliance to child care registration. Amy is also attending the FCCERS class and Positive Behavior Supports training to be better qualified.
Amy Muller: Amy provides parenting education and young parent support groups. She is available to provide in-home parenting education to families with children aged 0-5.
Michelle Olson: The Child Care Nurse Consultant will come to your program and complete a health and safety check that will get you on your way to the Quality Rating Scale. She is currently providing nutrition programs in preschools and assisting the I Smiles coordinator with dental screenings and varnishing for three and four year olds.
Tiffany Larson: Our Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coordinator is working with communities on collation building, identification of science based sex education curriculum, and education of communities in general.
HOPES: Public Health in each county provides an intensive in-home parent education and support program. Healthy Opportunities for Parents to Experience Success (HOPES) and Early Head Start programs are funded by empowerment. Call them for eligibility requirements for your families.
Children and Families of Iowa and Youth Shelter Services provide in-home therapy for families with mental health issues and have no other funding available for assistance.
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