At-home child-care provider Terry Sherrod hands Daxton Chavez a marker while Tyler Lamb looks on. Sherrod, along with other Air Force-approved at-home child-care providers, have new guidelines starting Dec. 1. (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
RAF FELTWELL, England — Terry Sherrod has been caring for young children for the better half of the last decade — first at an Air Force Child Development Center and now at her Air Force-approved at-home child-care business.
She says she approves of the new Air Force policy on the licensing and supervision of Family Child Care facilities, which goes into effect Dec. 1.
There are two major changes to the policy, according to RAF Mildenhall Family Child Care coordinator Kelly Ewert.
First, providers will now be responsible for completing the 15-page inspection on a monthly basis rather than having an FCC inspector perform the lengthy inspection 12 times a year.
“It’s still not really that different, but there is definitely a shift in the way we’ll do things,” Ewert said. “We’re trying our best to make it a positive thing for everyone involved.”
Sherrod said she prefers the new method.
“I think it’s an easier way to do things,” she said. “It’s kind of letting us take the reigns more and they simply make sure we are complying.”
“It’s very stressful to have a houseful of kids to have someone come in and inspect you for two or three hours,” Sherrod said.
However, Ewert and her colleagues will still make unannounced visits to the home of providers. But instead of checking safety standards, contact lists and emergency preparedness, the inspectors will focus on observing the way providers interact with children as well as training.
“There’s always something they are going to need training with and that will be our focus now,” Ewert said.
The second shift will involve licensing the providers. The at-home child-care specialists will now receive the same licenses, whereas in the past the child-care specialists received one of three certificates based on a tiered training system.
Lesley Smith, who oversees the two Child Development Centers and the Family Child Care program at RAF Lakenheath, said the change was prompted by a similar move at the CDCs.
For Sherrod, the licensing issue doesn’t pose additional training because she already holds an associate’s degree in Child Development as well as her training modules from her five-year stint at Air Force CDCs.
It’s unclear what impact the changes will have on the level of care children receive from at-home providers. Officials are also unsure if the number of providers will change because some may not be willing to adapt to the changes to stay in business.
Measuring an increase or decrease in the number of providers is difficult because the numbers tend to ebb and flow with ongoing permanent change of station assignments, Ewert said.
