Family Child Care

Wydalis De La Torres
Provider of the Quarter

 

Family Child Care Training and Orientation Course

Take a step toward a career of a lifetime. The FCC needs providers to do care during swings and evening shifts. Applicants who are interested in providing care for special needs children and during swing and evening shifts receive priority for training and licensing.

Family Child Care Subsidy Program is in place to help increase the amount of affordable child care available to Air Force Families. A service member using a FCC subsidized home may now be able to pay according to the same sliding fee scale featured at the Child Development Centers.

Free Child Care for Volunteers of base nonprofit agencies may be available

Extended Duty Care is available to personnel who are tasked with extra work hours; this program is designed to assist families in finding child care when their duty hours are temporarily extended.

Returning Home Care is available for individuals returning from deployments through the FCC program. Service members are entitled to 16 hours of free FCC child care within 30 days of their return. For more information, call 552-3995.

Resource & Referral 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, if you need child care, general information or waiting list status, located at Bldg. 10480

For additional assistance when you are seeking care in the surrounding community, contact The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies at www.naccrra.org

Individuals who are not licensed family child care providers are not allowed to advertise in base publications or post notices on base bulletin boards.

Contact FCC office at 552-4664/3995 for information.

You don't have to travel to the ends of the Earth to find the rewards, gratification, and experience of the hardest job you'll ever love. By attending Family Child Care Orientation and Training, the skills necessary to embark on a satisfying career are within your reach.

Training is featured on a variety of dates throughout the year and provides  interested individuals with the tools necessary to create a loving, enriching, and professional home-based child care environment.

FCC providers must be 18 years old, able to read and speak English, and in good mental and physical health. Providers must also pass a comprehensive background check, including family members, and a basic orientation program prior to licensing. Also, within the first 18 months of licensing, providers must complete 15 Air Force standardized training modules and additional training every year thereafter. The 15 completed modules can be used for college credit at any school that offers a Child Development Associate's degree. The number of credits accepted varies according to the college chosen.

In addition to the extensive training that ensures providers have the skills they need, the FCC office continually works to provide additional support to individuals, allowing their home to reach  its full potential as a childcare facility. Providers have full access to a toy lending library and art supplies. Reimbursement for food expenses is provided through the USDA food program.

The Family Child Care program is always looking for providers who are willing to care for children with special needs, including children with asthma, allergies, cerebral palsy, and other physical impairments. Contact our office if you are interested!

Applicants who are interested in providing care during swing and evening shifts receive priority for training and licensing.

Family Child Care needs providers for ages two and under. Please call 552-3995, for more information.

Any individuals caring for other families' children a total of more than 10 hours a week on a regular basis must be licensed to provide care in on-base quarters. The requirement to be licensed is computed by multiplying the number of hours the provider offers care on a regular basis by the number of children in care. For example, if an individual provides care one afternoon a week for 4 children for 3 hours they must be licensed.

This does not include:

Individuals who occasionally provide care for a friend or neighbor.

Individuals providing baby-sitting on an occasional basis for other families.

Teenagers doing evening or weekend baby-sitting for families.

Child care provided in the parents' own home.

Parent cooperatives where one of the parents provides supervision for other parents' children on an exchange basis and no fees are involved.

Temporary full-time care of a child during a parent's absence for temporary duty or deployment by the person listed on the AF Form 357, Family Care Plan.

The above information is from AFI 34-276, Chapter 1.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call our Family Child Care office at 552-4664/3995.

Subsidy Program

The Air Force Family Child Care Subsidy Program allows military members and DoD civilians to pay their FCC providers the same fee as if they were enrolled in one of the child development centers. The subsidized spaces are currently available for children under 3 years of age, special needs children, and swing/mid shift workers. The program is voluntary for providers and spaces are limited. For more information, contact the FCC office at 552-4664/552-3995.

Requirements of the Child Development Programs in order to use the service:

The following items must be current, completed, and turned into the Resource and Referral Office 48 hours prior to the day of service:
Referral Certificate
Completed AF Form 1181
Current Shot Records
(to include the varicella vaccine-chicken pox)
Children with special needs must have a medical care plan on file with recommendations from the medical advisor.
Children with allergies must have a dietary statement on file from the medical advisor.

Referrals and Reservations

Referrals will be taken from the following community resources: Chaplain Services, Doctors or Medical professionals, Family Advocacy, Family Support Center, Family Member Program Flight, or Squadron Commanders or First Sergeants.  Referrals are issued for one month.  Reservations for care can be made as early as the Monday prior to the service day but no later than 48 hours prior to services in order to allow for appropriate staffing.

To make reservations or for more information call 552-4828 (Resource and Referral Office).