For Day-Cares in Need, Resource Center Delivers

Blanca Alarcon slid open the door of the Child Care Resource Center van, which was parked in front of a pretty white house in Reseda with purple pansies in the window boxes. “Wow,” said 3-year-old Nicole Christian, jumping up and down as she peered into the van. “You’ve got lots of stuff.”

Packed with play equipment, toys, art supplies, books and literature on child development, the van is in the field four days a week, visiting caregivers like Mechelle Wiesenthal in their homes.

Wiesenthal, 29, is a former preschool teacher who now tends six youngsters, including her own 2-year-old son, Jacob.

She has taken two of the older children--Nicole and fellow 3-year-old Nautica Savage--out to the van to pick new playthings. Meanwhile, the van’s other staffer, Cyndi Trujillo, plays with Wiesenthal’s four other charges in the backyard.

“It’s great to see the children’s faces when the van pulls up,” said Lorraine Schrag, executive director of the Van Nuys-based center that provides child-care support services throughout the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. “They know it’s bringing them special things.”

Those may include oversized blocks or a table for water play that is beyond the budget of the person--usually a woman--who cares for the children. The children get to keep the playthings until the van makes its next visit, weeks later.

Launched in 1993 with a grant from the American Business Collaborative, the program now has four vans. A nonprofit agency, whose budget comes from the California Department of Education and other public and private sources, the center serves some 3,500 child-care providers who care for about 12,000 children in the three-valley area, Schrag said.

The vans currently visit about 70 family child-care providers who have signed up for the free service.

“Buttons!” cried little Nicole, spotting a clear plastic box filled with buttons in the back of the van. Next, she exclaims over a box of large wooden blocks.

Ofelia Lozano, who runs Granny’s Day Care in her Reseda home, is another van client. She said her 13 preschoolers are thrilled to see blocks and other classics in the back of the toy box on wheels.

“In the beginning, I used to buy fancy toys with batteries and things, and they played with them for one day,” she said, with a chuckle. When the van made a recent visit, several tiny girls grabbed a box of tulle scarves, including an especially coveted hot-pink one, and began dancing with them.

But the children aren’t the only ones who look forward to the van’s arrival. Their care-givers know that there are good things inside for them as well, including the expertise of the van staff.

“It’s really an opportunity for the child-care provider to have a consultation with a child-care professional,” Schrag explained. “When they make an appointment, the child-care provider may say, ‘I’m having a terrible problem with biting.’”

Wiesenthal said the center’s child-development specialists helped her with just that problem on an earlier visit. Alerted to her concern, the van staff arrived with literature on biting that pointed out that it is common among toddlers. Wiesenthal was grateful to have it to reassure concerned parents.

“It’s stressful for the parents of both the biters and the bitees, and it was very helpful to have the handouts to give them,” Wiesenthal said.

The staff members also sat down with her to discuss strategies for preventing future incidents. They recommended “shadowing” the biters, keeping closer than usual watch on them and intervening before teeth were sunk. It worked, Wiesenthal said.

“There’s nothing better than having a resource like that,” said Barbara Hill, director of child and family studies at Cal State Northridge. “When you’re a family child-care provider, you’re very isolated. You’re in this little world, in this little house, with these children.”

The opportunity to ask questions and swap ideas is invaluable, Hill said. But, she cautioned, frequency is a major issue: “If it’s once every six months, or once a year, what’s the point?”

The Child Care Resource Center vans will start visiting care-givers every eight weeks in the near future, up from every three months.

“Providers need to have more assistance in the home, in an environment that’s comfortable for them,” Trujillo said of the van program, which was the first in the Los Angeles area. Alarcon also believes it’s important to go to the provider, not just bring the provider in for the occasional workshop or seminar.

One of the center’s vans will be open to the public April 14 at CCRC’s WordPlay, a free festival celebrating early literacy on the Valley College campus in Valley Glen.

For information, call (818) 773-3276.

The staff thinks the van program benefits everybody with an interest in seeing children well cared for. “I believe it promotes quality child care, and it also acknowledges family child-care providers as professionals,” Alarcon said. “And it empowers children to make choices.”

And the visits by the van also allow providers like Wiesenthal to talk to other grown-ups from time to time.

“I’m shut in here a little,” said Wiesenthal, as she rejoined the six small dervishes in her backyard. “It’s really wonderful to have adults around who understand the profession.”