The conference held at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center was the first collaborative effort between Head Start and the Consortium. One of the goals of the Consortium is to make training available and accessible to all child care providers in Alabama. To this end, the Consortium sponsored 45 family day care and relative care providers to attend the training conference. In Alabama, a family day care home is defined as being a residential facility in which no more than six children receive care during the day.
Relative care is provided to a child by a grandparent, sibling or other family member.
Family day care providers and relative care providers are generally not as connected to the child care community as providers at child care centers. Because of this isolation they often do not know about or have the opportunity to take advantage of training opportunities. Monetary concerns and finding substitute care are also barriers to these providers receiving training. The focus of this conference, for those caregivers sponsored by the Consortium, was caring for infants and toddlers. Whether it is a caregiver partnering with a parent for the good of an individual child, or organizations such as the Alabama Child Care Consortium collaborating with the Alabama Head Start Association, it is clear that in pooling our wisdom, experience, and resources we can positively impact children's lives in a way that would not be possible through isolated efforts.