Childcare providers thank DCCA secretary, governor

Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Robert Hunter poses with the officers and members of the CNMI Childcare Providers Association who met with secretary to thank him and government for the local share in childcare fund. (Contributed photo)

Officers and members of CNMI Childcare Provider Association met with Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Robert Hunter last Dec. 21 to express their appreciation for working so hard for the $500,000 childcare fund approved by the governor.

The additional funding for childcare was confirmed by the governor and lawmakers in a press release last Dec. 5. CCPA expresses their gratitude to the lawmakers and the governor.

The appropriation is the first local government’s share in the funding provided to eligible families for childcare. Providers appreciate this additional fund as it also benefits them as it enables daycare centers to serve more children. Childcare is federally funded administered by Child Care Development Fund under DCCA. The childcare fund provides financial assistance to parents attending school full-time, parents employed full-time, working single parents, and children with special needs.

On the part of childcare providers, delivering high quality care services is among the federal requirements. CCDF provides training to daycare and childcare workers and also daycare center directors on health and safety, leadership in early childhood, developmental appropriate practice, and many more. A childcare employee needs to complete 30 hours of annual trainings, must be CPR certified, food handler certified, and has secured police and SORNA (Sex Offender) clearance certificates.

This first month of 2018, DCCA Secretary Robert Hunter and CCDF administrator Maribel Loste need to submit to Gov. Ralph Torres’ administration information on the utilization of the additional childcare fund particularly on how it would effectively enable eligible families to be at work or attend school full-time. Licensed childcare providers could be subject to additional requirements. The CNMI Association of Child Care Providers is committed to work closely with CCDF in helping families needing assistance in caring for their children.

With the current situation of the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program, providers wish and hope that they could effectively attract and hire U.S. and local workers by offering competitive salary rates and benefits like those being paid by the Public School System. The CNMI Association of Childcare Providers would like to suggest to CCDF that portion of the local fund for childcare, first be treated as a regular part of the government annual budget, and second, subsidized compensation to attract local individuals to work as childcare providers in the private centers.

Again, the providers, families and children thank the government for this fund and wish this be a yearly budget for the care of our children. (PR)