The Family Child Care Home Education Network (FCCHEN) program is a partnership between the parent, family child care home provider, and Children’s Home Society of California (CHS). The FCCHEN program offers affordable child care to eligible parents, supports the quality of child care, and establishes relationships between children, parents, family child care home providers, and CHS program specialists. Family child care home providers enrolled in the FCCHEN program receive ongoing professional development training, guidance, and technical support from CHS program specialists to assure high-quality child development services.
FCCHEN Tools for Quality
CHS program specialists conduct visits to FCCHEN providers where they utilize the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) assessment tool and the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale (FCCERS) to evaluate and improve the quality of care.
The DRDP is an assessment tool used by the Department of Social Services and West Ed to monitor and support children’s development from birth to twelve years old. Children are observed upon enrollment into the program and every six months thereafter. Upon completing each observation, parent conferences are held between the parent and FCCHEN program specialists to discuss key observations and share resources to support each child’s ongoing healthy development.
The FCCERS is a scale used to evaluate and strengthen the quality of care in family child care homes serving children birth through age twelve. Some of the items included in the FCCERS instrument are safety, health, furnishings and general indoor/outdoor environment, learning materials and activities, and relationships. A FCCERS evaluation is done once a year. The results are used to create an Action Plan that helps identify strengths, as well as areas that CHS can work alongside the child care provider to strengthen. The FCCERS process encourages and supports continual professional growth and program quality improvement.
FCCHEN Education
CHS provides resources, technical assistance, and training to both parents and child care providers with the goal of increasing knowledge about child development and building relationships. The DRDP Tool (Preschool, Infant/Toddler, School Age) and the FCCERS instrument are used to create Action Plans.
Action Plans are created to determine steps to take to support children’s development and improve their quality of child care. The site action plans are compiled to create a Program Self-Evaluation for the agency, which is required by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and supports CHS in ensuring that our programs are relevant and beneficial to the community.
CHS then develops trainings for FCCHEN providers to support those areas that need strengthening. CHS also provides written materials for FCCHEN providers such as Curriculum Guides (Language and Literacy Development (Comprehension) and Language and Literacy Development (Communication and Expressive Language)), Provider Newsletters, and Nutrition Resource (Feeding Infants, Life Stage Nutrition, and Tips for Teachers).
Families receive Parent Newsletters, a Conference Sheet every six (6) months, Activity Sheets, and other resources intended to increase child development knowledge and support their child’s development. Families are also invited to Parent Advisory Meetings and trainings.
If you are a FCCHEN provider or parent who would like to speak to a program specialist about resources or trainings, please contact your local office by clicking on the location below: