Provider and Child Education Services (PACES) is pleased to announce that three Linn County family child care providers have earned national accreditation through the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), the only family child care accrediting body in the nation.
Saundra Dygert, Vicki Early, and Amy Speed all achieved NAFCC Accreditation in June of 2008.
NAFCC Accreditation is the highest standard of quality in the profession of family child care. Family child care providers who choose to become accredited recognize the importance of a child’s early years and work to provide a standard of excellence that nurtures and educates young children.
Saundra, Vicki, and Amy all received technical assistance and funding support from the PACES program during the accreditation process. PACES is funded by Linn County Empowerment and focuses on improving the availability of quality child care in Linn County through the recruitment, training, and support of child care homes caring for young children (birth to five years of age).
To find out more about NAFCC Accreditation, please visit their website by clicking here.
To find out more about Linn County Community Empowerment, please visit their website by clicking here.
Saundra, Vicki, and Amy have been doing child care for 11, 18, and 5 years, respectively. Each chose to start doing family child care when her children were small as a way to not only earn income but ensure the quality of care for her own children.
Saundra’s child care career has grown to include being an Emergency Crisis Child Care Provider and an instructor in the ChildNet series trainings and Business Basics trainings for HACAP that serve family child care providers. She is also a foster parent, and a PS-MAPP trainer for Iowa KidsNet, a program that trains prospective families to become Resource Families.
Saundra chose to become NAFCC Accredited because, “It is a sign of professionalism. These are extremely high standards that must be met and the business world can appreciate what I have accomplished.” She also said that by going through the NAFCC Accreditation process she has learned to value herself and her career even more than she had previous to the process.
When asked what she liked the most about providing child care she replied that she enjoyed, “helping the children learn about the world around them and seeing them make discoveries.”
Vicki chose to become NAFCC Accredited because, “Iowa needs more people to promote quality child care. Being accredited helps show that we have quality child care here.” She also said that going through the accreditation process helped her to realize that, “Rules and procedures, especially when it comes to safety, are always changing in child care and you have to be willing and able to stay up to date and make changes.”
When asked what she liked the most about providing child care she replied that she enjoyed the flexible schedule of being able to set her own hours and routine with the children. She also said that she had been blessed with, “very flexible parents!”
When Amy was asked what she liked the most about providing child care she replied that she enjoyed, “the flexibility of setting up my own business, my own hours, and the routines with the children.”
Amy chose to become NAFCC Accredited because, “It is a sign of my professionalism. This is the gold standard in my profession and it’s satisfying to know that I can achieve it.” She also said that by going through the NAFCC Accreditation process she has learned that “what I was doing wasn’t too far off!”