By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Child Care Task Force of Ellis County is taking steps to help providers be better prepared in cases of emergency.
The state of Kansas has recently updated its licensing requirements for in-home child care providers. The providers must have updated first-aid kits and detailed written crisis plans.
The task force was awarded a $30,000 grant from Child Care Aware of Kansas to, among other things, support the purchase of new first-aid kits for in-home child care providers in Ellis County.
The grant will also fund the task force's professional development events, a provider appreciation event, some support for the annual child care training conference and paying someone a small stipend to keep the group's social media updated.
The Child Care Capacity Grant must be spent by May 1, but Sarah Wasinger, task force facilitator, said at the last child care task force meeting on Jan. 14 that the task force would pay for some of its professional development and training expenses.
Tori Ruder, in-home child care provider and task force member, has worked to create a template for the crisis plan based on her child care's plan.
"For current and new providers, it's one less step for them to say, 'How do I get that? How do I make that?'" Ruder said.
Ruder said she is working to develop a flip book for the crisis plan. Instead of shuffling through pages, she could flip to the section on fire or off-site evacuation to quickly find the plan notes.
Schools in the community provide local emergency responders with pre-emergency plans, which include information about their structures. This ensures that first responders have key information in case of fire, evacuation or an intruder.
Wasinger said copies of the forms are kept in all the local fire engines.
Hays has 72 in-home child care providers.
Wasinger has discussed with Lyle Pantle, Ellis County emergency manager, making those forms available to child care providers on a voluntary basis.
Wasinger said she saw members of the task force volunteering time to work with child care providers to fill out the forms.
Wasigner gave the example of a question on the form. She said a truss in a house's construction can affect how long firefighters have to evacuate a home.
A provider could indicate the home's tornado shelter or shelter-in-place location in case of an evacuation or rescue.
"It just gives emergency services a little more data to use," Wasinger said. "Not only to get the kiddos out safe but the provider out safe and to keep their people safe, as well."
Wasinger anticipated inviting Pantle to present at a future child care professional development event.
Task force goals
At its meeting on Jan. 14, the task force also revised its goals for 2025.
The task force set the following goals:
• Updated survey – The task force will use a sub-committee to review survey questions before its February meeting.
• Funding crisis kits
• Crisis handbook generation
• Connecting more families with providers
• Shared services through the task force
• Resources for providers to continue their development with programs like Level Up Kansas. They have a navigator tool.
• Communicating and marketing what resources are available to providers for professional development offered outside of the task force
• Advancing quality of care through continued education and professional development offered by the task force and Northwest Kansas Economic Innovation Center
• Develop pay-to-play for businesses
• Adding Child Development Associate Credential track for high school students
• Host a provider resource fair and provider in-service
• Share documentation that outlines the requirements of being a provider and the rules and regulations that need followed
• Share resources from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment that outline good questions for caregivers to ask prospective providers for their children
• Update resources on the Chamber in Hays website for the task force