Read the latest updates on the work we’re leading in the early care and education sector. For media inquiries, please contact us below.
Christi Smith has been named as the new executive director of Child Care Aware of Kansas (CCAKS).
Board President Kari Mailloux made the announcement following an extensive search.
The rewards of offering child care benefits to employees are undeniable for these businesses. Each of these representatives shared that child care benefits were primarily used as a recruitment tool, but they have seen further benefits for the businesses themselves in terms of retention, profit, company culture, and community impact.
Early care and education professionals have historically faced substantial obstacles when it comes to maintaining a healthy and motivated workforce.
Child care providers often face uncertainties. Unsure when to call? Here are 9 instances…
The information we gather is used to inform parents about child care programs that have openings for their child(ren), based on the parent’s needs.
As childcare providers, we are great at making sure that the children we are tasked with taking care of are warm, dry, fed and are safe. Do you have a plan as the provider if you have a medical emergency?
With measles cases on the rise, you may be wondering what you can do to keep the children in your care safe and your program doors open. Although measles was once quite common, it can now be prevented with the use of vaccines. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), most measles cases that occur today occur in unvaccinated people.
Implementing mindfulness in early childhood programs and family environments can have profound effects on children’s emotional wellbeing, cognitive development, and overall resilience.
Nearly 1 out of every 5 children in the United States has a special health care need.
Supporting a heart-healthy lifestyle early in life will help lower a child’s cardiovascular risk for disease as they age and reinforce continued healthy behaviors later in life.
Refreshing policies for the new year can give a program an array of benefits. Creating policies for child care is essential to creating high-quality and long-standing programs, but that is only the first step.
An engaged community group created a tax credit toolkit for Kansas employers.
As we move into a new year, communities all over Kansas are working to implement local solutions to the child care crisis.
As a family child care provider, it’s important for you to become familiar with all the IRS requirements for filing your taxes.
This time of year, many of us reflect on the previous year and set resolutions or goals for the upcoming year! Regardless of your feelings about New Year’s resolutions, it’s a great idea to set professional goals for yourself and your child care business in 2024!
Throughout Kansas, numerous communities are seeking increased child care options. Often, these enhancements require collaborative community efforts to tackle local obstacles that hinder the availability of child care slots.
Creating a plan to increase child care capacity in your community involves a thoughtful and strategic approach. This step-by-step guide was created to help your coalition develop an effective plan.
With all the great reasons to incorporate seasonal foods into your program’s menu, it’s easy to see that seasonal recipes are good for your children’s mind and appetite!
Many people, including educators, are becoming more aware of the impact of implicit bias in early childhood. These biases limit children’s opportunities to reach their full potential, and their learning is negatively impacted. Without addressing these biases, high-quality early childhood education isn’t possible.
Your gift is a powerful investment in ensuring Kansas has access to high-quality child care for generations to come.
There’s a lot of great things to celebrate during this time of year! When planning your holiday parties, do you think about the kids with food allergies in your program?
Child care administrators and teachers have to juggle a lot on a daily basis. Not only are they teaching young minds, but they’re also managing family communications, billing and enrollment, and everything in between. It can be challenging for families to find a program that does it all well.
Playground was purpose-built for child care providers to reduce tedious administrative work and free them to focus on what matters most — providing quality care for children.
Early childhood professionals need and deserve respect and support for the critically important work they do. Investing in state’s our early care and education professionals is critical to stemming the loss of child care spots and expanding access to families throughout the state.
Have you ever had a cavity? According to the CDC, more than 1 in 5 children aged 2 to 5 years has at least one cavity in their baby teeth. That’s a lot!
In Kansas, just over 84,000 young children are potentially in need of child care. The shortage of affordable, high-quality child care in our state has far-reaching impacts on parents, employers, and communities across the state. Although these issues can be intimidating at first glance, promising solutions are already in the works.
The dining table in your child care program is an opportunity for so many positive interactions from practicing social cues through conversation, to trying new foods, to children learning responsibility with a job like setting the table.
The Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition maintains a list of child care providers across our state who have been designated as breastfeeding friendly.
Buckling up throughout your pregnancy is the single most effective step you can take to protect yourself and your unborn child during a crash.
Put on some sunscreen, make sure everyone has enough water, and enjoy these activities for summer fun with kids!
Cooking with children can be both fun and exhausting! Despite the time and patience required, making snacks or meals with your kids pays off for everyone involved.
Summer is a season for practicing and developing resilience and problem-solving skills in a low-stress and supportive environment.
Baby Steps is an innovative pilot that seeks not only to offset the revenue lost by caring for infants and toddlers, but also to bring family child care providers’ incomes closer to what might be considered a “livable” wage.
Making physical activity fun ensures that your kids will enjoy the benefits of being active throughout their lives.
You can rely on ECE Resources Kansas to keep a lot of important information saved for you in one place.
The Child Care Health Consultant Start-Up program is dedicated to welcoming new providers to the child care business.
We are so grateful that our program uses a child care management system, and we recommend it to all early care and education professionals. It makes the transition between home and child care much easier.
Julie Schwarz, owner of Thunderhawk Daycare in Grinnell, Kansas, shares her opinion on the KidKare software and how her program has benefitted from it.
Add a little bit of homegrown flavor to your child care program’s kitchen table.
The Iron Triangle of Early Care and Education Finance is a simple formula to help busy child care providers stay on track.
A learning community is a peer support network of early childhood professionals who meet on a regular basis to work toward shared goals.
Our state can’t experience economic growth unless we have someone caring for our children — and unless our children’s care prepares them to be thriving adults.
Shared Service Networks offer child care providers the opportunity to strengthen their business practices while focusing on what is the most important — the children.
It is important you know the health history and conditions of the children in your child care program so you can help keep them safe and appropriately meet their needs.
It can be challenging to know what you can do to best support yourself, your staff, and your children during hard times.
This problem affects tens of thousands of Kansans — and limits their ability to participate in the workforce. In many cases, a parent chooses to exit the workforce to care for their child.
The Importance of Sleep March 17, 2023 is not just a day to wear green! It’s also a nationally recognized day to acknowledge the many
There are some simple steps you can take to prepare yourself, your family, and the children you care for.
Task forces in Marion County and Anderson County took action to add more child care seats for local families.
Recognizing the major need in the community and among Creekstone’s workforce, the company is opening an on-site child care center — adding another 116 spots to the county’s licensed child care capacity.
By asking meaningful questions and paying attention to details during interviews with child care providers, you can decide if the program is a good fit for your family.
Black History Month provides an opportunity, if done right, for children to learn about the pivotal role that Black people have played in U.S. history.
As the years pass, affordable, quality child care only seems to grow more rare. How did we get here? What can we do as parents to help alleviate the child care crisis?
Quality child care prepares children ready to flourish in school and in everyday life. Research has proven that high-quality child care leads to tremendous school success.
Small incremental changes on the local level are paving the way for larger shifts, and those advances are starting to add up across the state.
Two grants are available to Kansas communities working to expand access to affordable, high-quality child care. The grants are based on the needs of your community and your level of readiness.
Program Administration Support is designed to help improve the quality of your business practices.
Kids with cavities miss school and have missed opportunities. Pain and infection from untreated cavities can lead to problems with eating, speaking, and learning.
Our child care health consultants are ready to help you tackle your child care start-up worries.
All Kansas businesses can apply to receive a state income tax credit for providing child care for employees or helping employees pay for other child care
Advocacy is not one-size-fits all. You can use your talents and your experience to make a difference!
Find a listing of key tax breaks and credits that families and/or child care
providers may be able to take advantage of.
Maintaining a healthy weight has positive effects on all of our body systems and sets an excellent example for those around us.
Child care providers have a unique opportunity to play a critical role in preventing and early identification of birth defects.
Whether your community is already engaged in capacity building efforts, or still needs to form a coalition, the Go Team coordinator will connect you.
We are witnessing a sea change in early childhood, with providers and systems leaders embracing more holistic approaches to improving the health, learning, and well-being of our youngest children and their families.
Disease mitigation strategies are some of the most important things providers can do to help keep illness at bay.
There is a growing body of research indicating that — when families are actively engaged in their child’s learning — children experience positive, lifelong outcomes.
The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) recently increased the initial eligibility income to 250% of the federal poverty level, which is much higher than many people realize.
La próxima ves cuando te encuentres tu mismo deseando que alguien este en tu esquina, recuerda que 1-800-CHILDREN existe por esa razón.
Kansas Children’s Service League (KCSL) trabaja para prevenir neglijencia y abuso de la infancia, ofrecer soporte para familias, preparar los niños para la escuela, y ofrecer educacion para padres y comunidades a lo largo de el estado de Kansas.
We must continue educating lawmakers about the real challenges that parents in this state are facing. When we help families overcome those challenges, more kids will be fed and cared for in loving, nurturing environments.
It can be hard to know exactly when to exclude a child for illness, especially when it comes to runny noses and coughs.
The next time you find yourself wishing there was someone in your corner, remember that 1-800-CHILDREN exists for that very reason. Go ahead, give us a call.
These services are designed to help children and parents develop the skills necessary to be successful in their homes, schools, and workplaces.
The Administration for Children and Families released new data showing that child care stabilization funds provided in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) have served more than 200,000 child care providers, impacting as many as 9.5 million children.
Since Head Start’s inception in 1965, the program has taken a holistic approach to working with the nation’s youngest children and their families.
With the rising costs of food and other essentials, it’s more important than ever for providers to inform families about opportunities to reduce their child care tuition.
Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder in the world
You can create a policy for your program that protects children from smoke exposure and ensures that staff do not model tobacco use in front of the children.
Sleeping can be a high-risk activity, especially for children under the age of one year – even more so if careful attention is not paid to the sleeping environment.
Daily routines with your child can be valuable opportunities for them to learn a new skill or healthy habit.
Our consultants provide coaching, consulting, technical assistance, mentoring, and advising.
If you wish to strengthen your cashflow in a more permanent ongoing way, consider using these practices.
Did you know that children in child care receive an average 40% of their daily calories while in the child care setting?
There’s been new interest in and financial support for maintaining and increasing the number of child care programs in our state. But we can’t just increase child care slots. The ultimate goal is for all programs to provide high-quality care to children.
What could be better than riding a bicycle on a beautiful, sunny day? Besides being a whole lot of fun, biking is great exercise and reduces stress. Plus, you can do it together as a family.
Mealtime creates plenty of wonderful opportunities to provide children with education and social-emotional development.
Providers serve millions of meals to Kansas kids each year through programs like the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), universal school lunch and breakfast, and summer meals.
Toxic stress and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are major influences on a child’s overall development — affecting school readiness, student success, physical and mental health, and other factors.
If you’re interested in starting a wellness program at your child care facility, consider these tips and ideas.
Our government should prioritize health policy that gives every Kansas kid the opportunity to grow up healthy and thrive.
How a Community Council on Child Care Can Help Families Succeed As parents and providers know well, each school year presents new challenges for child
General hygiene guidelines such as sanitizing, disinfecting, and excluding for signs/symptoms of illness in the Early Child Care Environment are still effective ways to prevent disease transmission.
Your position comes with great responsibility for little ones. But have you forgotten about the great responsibility you have for yourself?
Unfortunately, our everyday environments, including child care settings, may expose us to dangerous pesticides and lead, among other environmental hazards, that can impede a child’s mental or physical well-being.
Encouraging parents to keep their child’s vaccinations up to date is an important way to ensure that the children in your program remain healthy and protected against serious diseases.
As we head into back-to-school season, it’s time to think about preparing your program for the departure of school-aged children.
Here are some easy ways you can help your children, their teachers, and their child care providers make the transition from summer to school.
After a decade of focusing primarily on children with special health care needs, the FAC has expanded to address the needs of four more populations: women/moms, early childhood, children, and adolescents.
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