A Child’s Home Away From Home : Day-Care Providers Come in Many Forms

Away-from-home day care for children in North County is offered in a variety of forms. There are care-givers who work out of their homes, group centers, extended hours in schools, YMCA and Boys and Girls Club programs, Head Start and migrant worker projects, and even a few child-care centers in the workplace.

Here is a sampling of day-care programs in place or planned in North County:

FAMILY DAY-CARE HOMES

About 3,000 in North County “The parents call me their children’s surrogate mother,” said Ruth Hewitt, a licensed family day-care provider in San Marcos. “If I have a child full-time, that’s 50 hours a week.”

Hewitt accommodates children of different ages in her home, to make it more like a family, she said. She now has one infant and five other children from 1 to 4 years old.

Hewitt is a member of San Marcos’ “Registered Safe House Block Parent Program,” which was begun last year. Participants, who are all licensed child-care providers, display a smiling sunflower face in the windows of their homes to signal to children that help is available within. The providers participate in a city orientation to prepare them for emergencies. Currently, 42 homes are registered, according to San Marcos child-care coordinator Marti Tucker.

In Del Mar, Kathryn Hamilton operates an in-home program that is structured more like a day-care center. Her Del Mar Montessori preschool is licensed for 12 children, ages three to six.

Teachers of gymnastics, music, drama and dance come to the home on a set schedule.

Some children receive child care for the entire day, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Others participate in the “school” portion of the program, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. or from 9 a.m. to noon, Hamilton said.

There are about 3,000 licensed family day-care providers in North County, according to Dana Lovelace, North County licensing program supervisor.

Oceanside has the largest number with 348, followed closely by Escondido with 345.

Although prices vary widely, the average cost of per child in a family day-care home in coastal areas is $97 a week for infants and $86 for school age. In inland areas, the average cost in $85 a week for infants, $79 a week for school-age kids.

Small family day-care homes are licensed for up to six children, with one provider, and larger homes can take up to 12 children, with two providers. There is no fee for state licensing, and providers are licensed for three years.

All family day-care providers must be fingerprinted to qualify for state licensing.

“People need a license if they care for more than one family in their home, although relatives are exempt,” Lovelace said.

CHILD-CARE CENTERS

About 170 in North County Two- and 3-year-olds at the Mulberry Children’s Center in San Marcos gather in a circle to listen to a story, followed by a morning snack. The 4- and 5-year-olds learn Spanish and sign language, along with other enrichment activities like pre-reading and pre-math.

Nadine Abbott and Doris Lipska are the owners/directors of the center, which is licensed for 75 children.

“There is a greater concern (from parents) in the last four years about the quality of the program than in the last 20 years,” Lipska said. “Parents take time off from work to show up for activities. That wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago.”

There are about 170 licensed child-care centers in North County, according to Paula Leard, Childcare Resource Service director.

The centers range in size from the Voorhis Preschool in Fallbrook, which accommodates 10 children at a time, to the Carmel Mountain Preschool in Rancho Penasquitos, which has room for 225 at a time.

Although many centers are small local businesses, some are part of larger chains. Among those is Children’s World Learning Centers, which operates in nine locations in North County. Each center typically has spaces for 144 children.

Prices at centers in North County vary, but the average cost along the coast is $112 a week for infants and $73 for school age children. In inland areas, the average cost is $108 a week for infants and $63 for school age children.

CHILD-CARE AT SCHOOL

Offered in most districts All 16 elementary schools in the Poway Unified School District offer a before and after-school child-care program.

Some 1,500 students in kindergarten through fifth grade attend the program, which is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the school year, and during the winter, spring and summer school vacations.

No district funds are used for the program, said Leslie Fausset, assistant superintendent for elementary schools.

Parents pay a flat monthly rate of $180 for first through fifth graders, $200 for kindergartners, and $260 in the summer, when the child is in the program the entire day.

“The goal (of the program) is to expand and extend the child’s educational learning beyond the school day,” Fausset said. “Coordinators design their own program (at each site), but the activities are structured most of the time. Every program has homework time built into it.”

During the summer vacation, the program involves swimming lessons for the children, a daily field trip and frequent guest speakers, Fausset said.

The Vista AM/PM “Kids on Campus” Program is available at all 11 elementary schools in the Vista Unified School District. Since Vista schools are on a year-round track, the program provides before and after-school care for students, as well as all-day care for those who are on vacation.

“My son is in the fifth grade, and he has been in the program for two and a half years,” said Ginger Allen, a postal worker and single parent. “I was used to home care providers, and it seemed so appalling to me to have him in school all the time. But I discovered he could (be) in after-school activities like the model builders club. He can do his homework at school. They teach him crafts. It’s a nice link between education and home.”

The program offers services to kindergartners through fifth graders. In addition, middle school students can become “counselors-in-training,” said Linda Maag, who runs the AM/PM program.

“The sixth to ninth graders come in and tutor the children, get out the glue and the paint, go on all the field trips. They’re an extra set of hands for the staff, and the parents aren’t charged anything.”

The AM/PM program for school-age children is $60 a week for a whole day and $30 a week for a half day.

The Oceanside Unified School District contracts with the Santa Margarita YMCA in Vista to provide child-care services at seven of 15 elementary schools.

“Parents look at the locations (offered) and often get inter-district transfers so they can choose a site close to their work,” said Peg Cowman, principal at McAuliffe Elementary School

YMCA personnel operate the program from a double-width trailer donated by Rick Engineering and installed near the playground on the McAuliffe campus.

Child care is offered from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., leaving the trailer available to school staff for meetings in the mornings.

At the other school sites, YMCA personnel use classrooms, which are available after school from 2 to 6 p.m. The program provides care for afternoon kindergarten students up to sixth graders.

Children have time to do their homework in the learning center and choose between four or five activity centers, said YMCA director Sal Cisneros. Cost to the parents is $1.75 per hour for YMCA members and $1.90 per hour for non-members. The annual membership fee is $40.

HEAD START

Serving 817 children Head Start is a child-development program that targets low-income children and prepares them for kindergarten. It is federally-funded, and free to children who qualify based on the family income.

The Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee (MAAC) Head Start Project serves the northernmost portion of the county. The bilingual, multicultural preschool works with children ages 3 1/2 to 5. Centers in Oceanside, Vista, Fallbrook, San Marcos, Valley Center and Pala accommodate 433 children.

In Poway, Escondido, Solana Beach and Ramona, the Neighborhood House Assn./Head Start program operates centers that serve 384 children, ages 3 to 5.

“(The program) goes beyond simple day care,” said assistant director Angie Fischetti. “We stimulate their total intellectual, physical and social development.”

MIGRANT OUTREACH

Targeting farm - worker families Marcaria Lagunas, director of the Encinitas Migrant Infant Toddler & Child Development Center, operates a center for the children of migrant workers.

The program began 14 years ago and takes children from 2 months to 5 years old. Currently, 75 children receive care at the center, under the tutelage of bilingual teachers.

The program serves migrant families in Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Vista, Lagunas said. The families do not pay for the service, which is funded through the state. There are 29 of these programs throughout California, Lagunas said.

A multifamily housing project in San Marcos intended for farm workers will include a child-care facility, according to Mike McGuigan, city housing programs analyst.

The proposal, which has garnered some $3.5 million in funding from federal and state sources, calls for 38 units--3-, 4- and 5-bedroom townhouses.

The child-care component will share office space with other social service agencies, said McGuigan. The project is expected to be built next year and will be one of the first of its kind in the state.

BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS

Throughout North County Traditionally, Boys and Girls Clubs have offered a drop-in program, where students can go after school to participate in organized activities and programs. The children receive supervision, but they are free to come and go within the program.

At the Escondido Boys and Girls Club, a licensed child-care center is also operated at the facility.

For kindergarten, first and second grade children, the club offers a program from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on school days. Club buses arrive at the schools to pick up the children, according to branch director Bob Damwijk. Monthly fees are $160 for kindergartners, who are given hot lunches and snacks.

Parents of the older children, who participate in the program from 2:30 to 6 p.m., are charged $120 for the service. There are 94 children in the program.

The club also offers a drop-in program from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. The program, which picks up students at 11 elementary schools in Escondido, averages 300 children each day. The cost is $40 month with a $10 membership fee.

WORKPLACE CHILD CARE

Offered at only a few sites

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Palomar and MiraCosta colleges provide on-site child-care centers for their staffs.

“It’s a laboratory-school setting for the child-development students,” said Ronna Rogers, former director of the development center at Palomar.

Some 71 subsidized spaces are provided for the children of college students and 101 full-fee spaces are provided for employees’ children.

At La Costa Meadows Industrial Park in San Marcos, developer Tom Anthony is building an employer-backed child-care facility scheduled to open July 15.

Industrial park businesses, including Fluid Components, Hunter Industries, San Dieguito Publishers and Eagle Creek Products, contributed $100,000 in start-up costs and the developer contributed $120,000 in improvements.

Palomar College will provide the personnel to staff the child-care center, said Mary Anne Giardina-Rodgers, Palomar District child-care coordinator.

“We’re hoping to take 86 children, ages 2 to 5,” Giardina-Rodgers said. “The first priority will be to the children of the employees of our start-up companies.”

Oceanside High School principal Brian Sullivan would like to open an on-campus child-care center, which would be open to the children of school district, city and county employees, and then other community members.

Sullivan envisions the facility accommodating 110 children and serving as a training center for high school students enrolled in parenting and child-development classes.

The school district would lease the land to the child-care provider for a $1 annual fee.

The district is currently negotiating with developers who would build the facility, and providers who would run it, according to Louann Gigante, school district career development specialist.

Target date for the opening of the center is February, 1992.