Many family child care providers feel isolated because they lack contact with others caring for children. In 1996 two providers from Maryland began the process of bringing together all providers. A new not-for-profit organization, The Partnership for Children, Inc., was born. Here is the story from one of the co-founders Vickie Scivener.
Early in the summer of 1996 the much envisioned concept of "The Partnership For Children, Inc." came to life. My partner Wafa Sturdivant and I had often talked about our ideas for such an organization (many hours of which were spent at our local Tot Lot with our child care crews). The need we saw was to bring all those caring for and about children under one umbrella. We are all doing the same work with and for the same children. Yet we all seemed to be working off of different pages. So the new and wonderful venture began.
"The Partnership For Children, Inc." is a membership organization dedicated to supporting families and children by providing training, networking opportunities and informational resources to all those caring for children.
Who Benifits?
In working together, parents, family child care providers, center directors and center staff, nannies, au pairs, nursery school staff, Head Start staff, play group facilitators and child advocates will all benefit. Most importantly, however, children will be the beneficiaries of high quality, consistent, loving care from all adults in their lives.
As a parent...
The PFC can provide resources to parents so that they can become informed consumers when choosing a quality child care setting. We provide opportunities for parents to attend education seminars, help in the search for reading materials about child development or a specific concern about an issue they might be struggling with.
As a child care professional...
The PFC can facilitate interactions with others in the same field; provide opportunities for in-depth training; provide information about marketing and business practices; search for specific information about issues from parent/provider relationships to developmental delays to regulations.
As a corporation...
The PFC can provide information packets to employees about choosing quality child care, balancing work and home demands, bibliographies of publications useful to parents, as well as an extensive lending library of books, videos and magazines about children and child care options.
The overwhelming positive response to "The Partnership For Children, Inc." has been very exciting and we are really looking forward to a long standing "Partnership" among all those who care for and about children. We'd love to hear from you about your ideas & suggestions - feel free to jot us a note, call, or e-mail us anytime.
Vickie Scrivener
The Partnership For Children, Inc.
P.O. Box 6804
Columbia, Md. 21045-6804
410-997-8809
prtchild@ix.netcom.com