The Family Child Care Steering Committee
Submitted by: Sarah Williams and Andrew Taylor, co-chairs of the Family Child Care Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is eager to report on the current status of their work. What a lot of progress we have made over the past few months! First is to acknowledge a closer working relationship with staff from the Canadian Child Care Federation – Anne Maxwell, Senior Director of Projects, Programs and Services, Robin Kealey, Project Manager and Jeanine Plamondon, Project Coordinator. They are eager to help us move the work forward. There have been some new faces join us on the steering committee giving fresh perspectives and some familiar ones keeping the continuity going. Assignments and responsibilities have shifted to make way for change and the new work we are now engaged in. Our dear Lee Dunster says she is officially retired now. We will continue to invite her to share her expertise and good humour with the project as the work continues.

In February, we brought caregivers and trainers from across the country to participate in the leadership development training. We enjoyed getting to know each other and learn about training opportunities being offered in other communities. There were many similarities in identifying what individual caregivers need to enhance the quality of work they do with children and families. There were sessions on “Learning to Listen”, “Communicating your Message”, “Community Capacity Building”, “Developing as a Leader”, and an e-learning demonstration. Sharing in an informal way over meals and walks and outings really added to our experience together. We all wished that our conversational English and French were stronger so that we could have shared more freely. One participant from the west continues to e-mail her French counterparts and enrolled in a language class when she returned home.

There has been lots of activity around the e-learning test site. With the help of our facilitator, Diane Mitchell and the CCCF team of experts, participants learned how to navigate and become comfortable with the various sites and tools needed to deliver the training material on line. It was very exciting to connect with others across the country and receive feedback using all the “bells and whistles” the computer can offer. The evaluations are now back and discussions can begin around the development of the Family Child Care Training materials into e-learning format.

We encourage all to see the recent updates and revisions to the Family Child Care Website and participate on the bulletin boards provided.

That’s all for now,
Sarah Williams and Andrew Taylor

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