Day Care With a Difference

A prominent Vietnamese community agency has launched a unique child-care facility in Garden Grove aimed at freeing parents on welfare to find and keep jobs as well as teaching their youngsters in English and Vietnamese.

The Phu Dong Early Childhood Development Center is the first center to offer Vietnamese language and cultural instruction in addition to English, and organizers said it is a first step toward serving some of the estimated 5,000 Vietnamese American families on public assistance in Orange County.

Doors to the brown-and-white center on Magnolia Avenue opened last month to six children, ages 2 to 6. Another 14 await the results of health screenings.

“There aren’t any centers that focus on culture and language, so we’re very happy to have this,” said Julie Nguyen, the program’s child-care manager.

The center was named for a Vietnamese hero of legend, Phu Dong, a 3-year-old boy who ate a sumptuous meal and instantly metamorphosed into a colossus that saved the community from the ravages of war and natural disaster in 2000 BC.

The program, free to qualified low-income families, was established with a two-year, $190,000 state grant by the Vietnamese Community of Orange County Inc., a Santa Ana-based nonprofit agency that has helped refugees, especially seniors, since 1979. It offers job training, English and citizenship classes and operates a clinic.

The Phu Dong center, which can serve 36 children, has three classrooms, art and playrooms stocked with crayons and colorful blocks, and a grassy playground. There are four bilingual staff members. It’s now open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but center officials said the hours soon will be 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Instructions are given in English and Vietnamese. Labels for the cabinets, toys and rooms are bilingual to help children learn basic words in two languages. As in Vietnamese culture, students are required to bow when greeting guests. They sing songs in both languages along with teacher Huyen Nguyen.

Amy Rivera, a 2-year-old from Garden Grove whose mother is Vietnamese, already has learned Vietnamese songs and simple words by repeating after her teachers. Her mother has a low-paying job and couldn’t otherwise afford child care.

“Dep do choi di,” teacher Thanh Ngo tells Amy. “Let’s pick up the toys.”

Amy, wearing a bright-pink athletic outfit and a crooked ponytail, grabs a fake ear of corn and places it on a nearby shelf, under a matching picture labeled “vegetable set/rau qua.”

“It’s not just a place to baby-sit children,” said Mai Cong, the Santa Ana agency’s president and CEO. “It’s early childhood development.”

The facility specializes in teaching Vietnamese American children, Cong said. Other ethnic groups would be referred to the county for placement elsewhere.

“We’re not declining service,” Cong said. “We’re just saying that we’re not equipped and suitable to provide the services they need.”

Social workers said such a program is much needed by Orange County’s Vietnamese community, where unemployment runs at 14.4%, nearly three times the state average.

With welfare reforms capping the length of time anyone can receive public assistance, county and private social services agencies are emphasizing education for job skills as well as seeking and keeping a job.

Of the nearly 20,000 Orange County families on welfare as of May, about 13,000 are deemed able to work. Phyllis Watanabe, the county’s welfare-to-work program manager, said that only about 1,600 of those families now use child-care services.

“In order for the parents to become self-sufficient, they need to make sure their kids are safe,” Watanabe said. “It could be a barrier for them to go to work.”

Many parents on welfare would prefer to have someone of their own background and language care for their children, according to a survey conducted by the county.

“A lot of it has to do with culture,” Watanabe said. “In many of the two-parent families, the parents want the husband to work while the wife stays home to care for the children. But we’re trying to let them know that sometimes it takes two parents [working] to make the family self-sufficient.”

A grand opening for the day-care center will be held this month.