Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1388330
12 UCW JUNE 30 - JULY 6, 2021 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM COVER Fort Bragg program seeking childcare providers living on post by KEYURI PARAB KEYURI PARAB, Editorial Assistant COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com 910-484-6200. e Family Child Care Program at Fort Bragg is looking for in-home child care providers who live on post. e FCC offers free training, certification and assistance for providers. "e only providers that can actually be a part of the program are those that live in government owned or leased housing located on the post," said Evelyn Eggins-Alston, Child and Youth Services program operations specialist for Fort Bragg. e program offers extended hours — whole day, part day, extended, overnight, weekends and hourly care in a comfortable home setting. "FCC is an integral part of our childcare system available at all Army garrisons," said Eggins-Alston. "It provides quality home-based care for children 4 weeks to 12 years of age." e program began in the early 1980's and the certifications are transferable to other installations. It allows flexibility for the parents seeking childcare while alleviating some of the strain on regular Child Developmet Centers, where waiting lists are not uncommon. ose interested in becoming certified can go into the FCC director's office located on the 4th floor of the Soldier Support Center on Fort Bragg or call 910- 396-3823 for information. "ey'll have an interview and then will be pro- vided paperwork and a welcome packet," Eggins- Alston said. "ere will be a background check and then will come the training they need. We will make sure their training is maintained and includes CPR, food handling, fire and safety, and more." CYS oversees the program, but providers do enjoy some autonomy in how they run their service. e providers are free to choose what age group they are comfortable providing care for, and the limit for children per home depends on the ages in each house. Providers are their own entrepreneurs, but FCC does provide oversight tours and regulatory guidance and conducts four mandatory annual in- spections and unannounced monthly visits, Eggins- Alston said. FCC offers subsidies along with some start-up bonuses for interested childcare providers. After the providers' week-long training and in- home inspections, they will create a contract with the parents on the hours and pay. In-home providers are independent of the Child Development Centers. "e way they get paid is they make a contract with the parents ... we do have policies they can look at and decide how much they want to charge the parents, then what we will do at CYS, we offer 15% cost savings compared to our school programs for the parents." e more qualified providers with the Child De- velopment Associates will be eligible for a one-time $300 starting bonus and an additional monthly $50. Parents looking for childcare don't have to live on post to take advantage of the service, but all children in care must be registered. For more information on registering children for care on post visit https:// public.militarychildcare.csd.disa.mil/mccu/ui/#/ "ere shouldn't be any children in the home that aren't registered, because the children in the same house need to have the same immunizations as the other children," Eggins-Alston said. In-home providers offer flexibility that Child De- velopment Centers, which have set hours, cannot. "Some parents are dual military or single parents, and they may need longer hours other than what our centers provide so the in-home provider can choose to go longer or more flexible hours," Eggins- Alston said. "Maybe those that need weekend care, or during deployment, this program is there to pick up the slack where we can't." EVENTS Military kids can sign up for July sports clinics on Fort Bragg by KEYURI PARAB KEYURI PARAB, Editorial Assistant COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com 910-484-6200. Fort Bragg's Child and Youth Services is offering free summer sports clinics to military affiliated children. e clinics will offer four different sports: football (ages 6–12), soccer (ages 5–14), basketball (ages 5–14) and baseball (ages 6–12). A current sports physical and CYS regis- tration is required for participants. "ere will be three clinics per sport and a capacity of up to 10 children per class," said Evelyn Eggins-Alston, program operations specialist for CYS. e clinics will take place at the Polo Field for football and soccer; baseball will be at Armstead Field; and basketball will be at Tol- son Youth Center located on Fort Bragg from Monday through ursday 9-11 a.m. and 5-7 p.m. "e summer sports clin- ics taking place this summer offer an opportunity for our military families to involve their CYS-registered children to do outdoor athletic activities," said Elvia Kelly, Fort Bragg Garrison spokeswoman. "During the pandemic last year, many services were closed or cancelled, including the sports clinics. e goal this year is to help our youth get involved with our sports program as an avenue to learn or improve new skills and, ultimately, for the children to have fun in the process." Although June clinics have commenced, the July schedule offers football and soccer clinics July12-15, and basketball and baseball clinics July 19-22. "is year we decided to conduct a free clinic so that our families would be reintroduced to our sports program," Eggins- Alston said. e Youth Sports Program will provide 12 coaches in total for the clinics. As per new guidelines, masks will not be required while actively participating and equip- ment will be sanitized between classes. For more information, please contact the Youth Sports & Fitness Office at 910-396-5437. "While the Child Youth Services sports clin- ics are held during the summer, military-con- nected families can involve their children in upcoming sports or other activities throughout the year," Kelly said. Parents can learn about current programs offered by the Youth Sports & Fitness program by calling 910-907-5832, visiting the website https://bragg.armymwr.com/programs/cys- services-sports-fitness or by visiting the Tolson Youth Activities Center on Fort Bragg. e registration deadline for clinics is noon on the Friday prior to the start of the clinic.