Page 17 - Creating a Community of Resiliency

Background: Protecting Our Children
the first line of protection for
many children during an
emergency, and it is imperative
that the personnel in charge of
their daily care and education
be armed with information and
a broad skill set to respond
effectively to a multitude of
emergencies. It is also
imperative that resources
support children, including
children whose families are
poor or rely on public
assistance8, as well as children with special needs.9 It is important to remember that some children may not be mobile and may be less able to communicate their needs or basic information to a first responder.10 Helping those who care for children become better prepared is the top priority of the Creating a Community of Resiliency project.
The Role of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
In the aftermath of a disaster, many factors affect the resilience of a community and its
ability to rebuild, including the capacity of businesses to reopen quickly. For businesses to reopen, employees must be able return to work; employees who are parents cannot return to work unless resources are available to keep their children safe. If quality child care with workers qualified to respond to disasters and help families through the recovery process is not available, the recovery and rebuilding process will be protracted. It is possible that
regular arrangements will not be available for families; child care facilities may have been damaged, and child care workers may themselves be impacted by the disaster (for example, because of damaged homes and concerns for their own families).18 In these cases, early care and education providers must be able to draw on help from outside the community. There are many ways this could be accomplished; for example, child care Resource and Referral (R&R) offices can direct families and providers to resources in communities not affected by the disaster, and early care and education providers could share referral lists of qualified professionals who are licensed and/or fingerprinted. In addition to recovery efforts, R&R agencies can also assist in preparing early care and education providers through trainings.
CCALA serves Los Angeles County through a network of seven R&R agencies and three Alternative Payment (AP) agencies (Table 2). CCALA is a member organization that works to (1) ensure uniform, quality services across the County, (2) negotiate contracts, and
(3) coordinate data collection for advocacy, along with many other tasks. All of the member agencies provide subsidized child care assistance; and the R&Rs also provide a variety of
Table 1. Los Angeles County Child Care Facts
Percent of children 0–12 with parent in 64%
Number of children 0–1111
1,728,000
workforce12
Number of children in regular child care 488,000
Percent of children living in poverty13
26%
arrangement14
Number of licensed family child care homes16
7,646
Number of children in child care for more than 35 hours/week15
157,000
Number of licensed child care centers17
2,473
Child Care Resource Center |3