Family Child Care Steps to the Forefront of Family Support Quality Care for Children has been at the forefront of linking family support to family child care networks. After eight years, the neighborhood networks reach hundreds of families in the city and suburbs of Atlanta. In this issue, we are pleased to share an interview conducted with Roberta Malavenda, Deputy Director of Quality Care for Children in Atlanta, Georgia. Also included are the perspectives of a parent, a family child care provider and a child care specialist. Family support is frequently a natural extension of the family child care service.
Family support is the building of a partnership between the provider and the parent.
Family child care homes are a convenient, comfortable place to provide a variety of family support activities, to create real partnerships between the provider and the family, to build supportive neighborhoods. Positive outcomes for children can be a reality when providers have the skills and tools to help strengthen families. Family resource centers do not reach all families. The families that use family child care often are not connected to other institutions or groups. Family child care reaches out to a whole other group that may have been missed and can work hand in hand with resource centers to support families.