Anaheim Care Center to Serve Children and Elderly

A consortium of government, business and school districts in Anaheim has adopted a pioneering plan aimed at providing care for the city’s children and elderly.

The Anaheim Family Care Consortium’s goal is to build a $600,000 infant-toddler child care center and a $900,000 “multigenerational” center providing services to sick children and the elderly before the end of 1991. Both would be available only to people who live or work in Anaheim.

“We’re finding in corporations that the emerging elder-care need is starting to be of concern to employees, and therefore of concern to employers in terms of benefits,” said Anaheim Community Services Supt. Steven Swaim.

According to the State Joint Select Task Force on the Changing Family, one in eight Californians will be past age 65 by the year 2000, and those past 85 will increase by 81%. Meanwhile, mothers of preschool children will be the fastest growing segment of the labor market.

The child care center would be built at the former Santa Fe train depot in downtown Anaheim, while the other center would be on a city-owned parking lot off Romneya Street, next to the UCI Community Health Center.

The city would contribute $200,000 toward the multigenerational center, but would not run either center, Swaim said. It would seek a private vendor to operate the child care center, he said.

The plan also calls for before- and after-school care for elementary and junior high school children, in cooperation with school districts serving Anaheim. The Anaheim City School District is starting a year-round school schedule in June, necessitating a restructuring of day care for school-age children.