Child Care Plus ME
A Resource for You
Child care providers take great satisfaction in knowing that they
contribute to children’s healthy growth and development. There are
times, however, when even the most skilled and experienced caregiver has
questions or concerns.
What is Child Care Plus ME (CC+ME)?
Child Care Plus ME project staff from the University of Maine’s Center
for Community Inclusion & Disabilities Studies (CCIDS) work with child
care providers throughout the state to support all children in quality
inclusive settings. The goal is to build capacity in early care and
school-age child care programs by working directly with providers to:
- Exchange information about recommended practices
- Share research-based resources and materials
- Brainstorm creative ideas
- Model new approaches and techniques
- Support a caregiver’s problem-solving and planning skills
The focus is to offer technical assistance to providers so they have the
skills and resources to care for all children, including children with
special needs (physical, cognitive, developmental, medical and/or
behavioral) and children at risk for being expelled.
CC+ME is funded by the Maine Department of Health & Human Services,
Office of Child & Family Services, Early Childhood Division, through a
State-University partnership with CCIDS.
What is Technical Assistance (TA)?
In order to support quality, inclusive care, and education, TA is a
responsive, collaborative consultation process. TA is provided upon
request to licensed programs including private not-for-profit centers,
Head Start, family child care, school age programs, public school pre-K
collaborative programs, as well as legal unlicensed child care, and
recreation programs. The TA process may include the program
administrator, director, family child care provider, parents, and direct
care staff.
Why Might a Provider Request TA?
Providers may request TA to support inclusive practice in their
programs. TA topics include administrative and teaching practices,
curriculum, environment, and communication with families. Providers may
also contact CCIDS about any child whose developmental, emotional,
physical, or behavioral health is a concern. The child does not need to
have a specific diagnosis. If concerns center on a particular child,
providers must have parental consent to discuss that child with CC+ME
project staff.
What might TA look like?
Once a provider makes a request for technical assistance, CC+ME project
staff will contact the program and together they will determine needs
and next steps. CC+ME staff will work in collaboration with Maine’s
Child Care Resource Development Centers (RDC) to deliver TA whenever
possible.
CC+ME staff provide TA within the following categories:
Level I: Assistance that involves phone or e-mail contacts—sending
readily available resources for the TA request and possible referral
information to other agencies
(1-2 hours).
Level II: Assistance that includes Level I, plus sending individually
researched resources to address the TA request (1-6 hours).
Level III: Limited, on-site consultation, including a summary of
recommendations
(4-9 contacts, 5-20 hours).
Level IV: In-depth collaborative consultation with multiple on-site
visits and phone/e-mail support resulting in a signed TA plan (minimum
of 12 contacts, minimum of 12 hours).
In collaborative consultation, ongoing TA is provided on-site with
program administrators and staff or the family child care provider.
Depending on the nature of the TA, parents may also be involved.
Together they generate a TA plan, which includes:
- Mutually defined goals
- Specific strategies or activities to address the goals
- Who is responsible for accomplishing activities and tasks
- Anticipated timeframe involved
- Additional support/resources needed
- How goals will be met and progress toward goals will be reviewed
As part of the TA Plan, CC+ME staff can provide specific training such
as:
- Creating productive partnerships with families
- Building cooperative behavior skills
- Arranging environments to create accessible learning spaces
Another aspect of the TA plan may include access to special needs
subsidy funding to support programs to include a child or children with
special needs. Funding is based on eligibility criteria, approval by DHHS and subject to regular review. CC+ME project staff will work with
the requesting program staff to identify appropriate or available
funding options.
For more information about CC+ME or other resources, contact the Center
for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Windham Office, 48 Tandberg
Trail, Windham, ME 04062
To request technical assistance, please contact us at 207/892-0455 (V) or toll free in Maine
at 866/230-4520 (V/TTY) or download the TA request form:
A Consent for Release of Information form is also needed and can be
downloaded as well:
If you do not
have Adobe Acrobat (for viewing PDF files), use this link to download
Acrobat Reader, a free web
tool.
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