Paul Szmal: It's 816, it's F-Alex Morning Wednesday. We're Zooming with Julie Champion at Child and Family Resources. CFResources.org is the website. Good morning, welcome back. Good morning, Ted. We know how difficult it can be sometimes to be a parent. I remember when I was with one of my high school friends and when our kids were young, he said, every time you go anywhere you have to take the whole house. So you've got some programs to try to make things easier. I'm going to talk about one old one that we've talked about in the past and then a new one you have. Let's talk about, for a moment, the court-based program in the Penny Anne Yates County Courthouse.
Julie Champion: Okay, yeah, the Penny Anne program at the courthouse is called the Children's Center and that program is open to help families who might have court business. It's located right at the courthouse. It's a drop-in program. Folks who may have to go to court, meet with an attorney, attend a mediation appointment, they're eligible to drop their children off in the center while they're there in the building and take care of their business and then pick them up before they leave. And it's free. And we know that parents have all kinds of these moments like this. You've got to be somewhere. Can you bring the kid? Can you not? Where are you going to take them? And that's where Stay and Play comes in. Here's another drop-in care program just for whatever reason. If you need to run an errand or be someplace for a little bit, you can bring the child. So where is this and tell us about it.
Paul Szmal: Well, our Stay and Play program is also in Penny Anne and this one is located right at our 263 Lake Street site. And that's right next, right past McDonald's, next to the car wash. We have a children's program room downstairs so folks would just come on and pull around back. And we have staff who are there starting in October. We switch the dates. We're going with Tuesday afternoons. So from 1 to 3.30 on Tuesday afternoons, we'll have staff who can care for your kids while you, I don't know, start your Christmas shopping, do a doctor's appointment, whatever you need to do.
Julie Champion: Now there is pre-registration. When you say pre-registration, is it one time to register for the program and then you call in? Or do you register each time you're going to use it?
Paul Szmal: We have a one-time registration packet that we like folks to fill out ahead of time. And stop by, see the space, meet the teachers if they have time. There is some paperwork that needs to happen. And if you're in a hurry to get to an appointment, we know doing that ahead of time makes it easier for everybody.
Julie Champion: Well in that way, your staff gets to know if anybody has any special food requirements or anything or just anything you need to know. So that's a good help for both sides.
Paul Szmal: Most definitely. You want to get to know what your child may need. The other nice piece about coming ahead of time to fill out the packet is, if you bring your child with you, they can meet the staff. And it's not a strange person on that first visit. So we really, really wanted folks to have the opportunity to do that. And if families don't want to use the program, excuse me, that first October date, they can still stop by, check out the program, and then fill out the packet then. So that they can go ahead and prepare themselves and have it ready for the next time they might need it.
Julie Champion: And of course this is much more than a drop-off. You've got trained staff. You've got educational programs, snack and fun. So I mean it's, you know, because as a parent you always just want your mind to ease. So you know, if I drop my kids off here, they're gonna get more than just a place to hang out. They're gonna learn a little bit. They're gonna probably make some friends. And it's great for everybody.
Paul Szmal: Yes, it is. And the space is actually set up for children who are four months old. So we have room for infants, if need be, up to six years old. And we have a multitude of different materials and supplies. So depending on what age your child is, they'll have toys and activities that are catered to their age. And staff have a lot of experience in caring for children in that age range as well.
Julie Champion: And this is for not just parents. Grandparents can use it as well. It's for any child ages four months to six years. Now is there a limit as to how many you can take on a particular day? And how does that work in terms of calling in to let somebody know that you're coming?
Paul Szmal: Good question. We do have a limit. We have two staff that are present. So in our mind, if we have a bunch of families who are dropping off infants, we would not take more than four infants. And we would be considerable at that point. So we want to be able to have an infant on each arm, you know, just in case of an emergency situation or something like that. But we typically, if we have a blend of ages, we can have, I believe, up to eight children at any given time.
Julie Champion: And of course, the hours are important. It's 1 to 3.30, and you can't have chronically late pickups. Not only does that jeopardize that family being able to use the program, but actually could put your funding in jeopardy.
Paul Szmal: Yes, because this is a drop-in program, it's not considered child care in the sense that it would be needed to be registered or licensed by New York State. And drop-in programs that have children there less than three hours are exempt from registration. So that's why we have the time limit on there. And we build in a little bit of cushion because, you know, traffic and weather happens. But we really hope that that it will still be valuable to folks while they can run some quick errands. Part of the funding is a grant from the state Office of Children and Family Services Trust Fund. And we've been talking about them a lot lately. I mean, it's easy, you know, nobody likes government, but this office has really, I think, been doing a lot of great things for kids and families in New York.
Julie Champion: I would have to agree. And you're right, we often get the eye roll about state funding. But, you know, I would say 95% of our funding is state and local grants. And without them, we wouldn't be able to offer some of the crucial services that we offer families in our area. So the Office of Children and Family Services has been a great asset and partner with us.
Paul Szmal: And then again, just a reminder, this program is intended for the occasional drop-off. It's not intended for you to use every single Tuesday from 1 to 3.30 as regularly scheduled care.
Julie Champion: Yes, that is correct. It's an intermittent use of the program. We do, you know, recommend folks call ahead if they have a need just to be sure we have a spot open that day. And people can, if they're setting up a doctor's appointment, they can call us ahead up to 30 days in advance to let us know they would need to drop their child off that day. But again, it's first-come, first-served. So that's usually how we have to run the program.
Paul Szmal: And also, you tell me that you've got a potential to add some staff and maybe be able to add another day on Thursday sometime in the near future.
Julie Champion: Yes, we're targeting Thursday morning option in the future, in November. We did a survey of all the different programs in Penny, in which there are a lot of. You've got the Community Center, you've got Living Well, you've got the library. They all have some great parent-child programs. So we didn't want to compete with those. So we're trying to adjust our time so it's a spot that there isn't something else happening.
Paul Szmal: We talked a bit about this last time. Remind us about the state's child care assistance portal and the resources are being offered both for parents seeking care and for people thinking of starting a care business.
Julie Champion: Well, the portal is awesome. I'm hearing positive feedback from parents. I know that their application numbers have definitely increased for folks who are looking for that help with child care fees. And the portal is right on the OCFS website and it's user-friendly. You do have to upload documents as part of the application portal and I think some folks were having difficulty with that. And I just want to offer that if there are any families out there having trouble accessing or uploading there, certainly welcome to stop by our office anytime and we can help them through that process. And of course you go to the website CFresources.org, you'll find all kinds of help. The very first thing you see on the front page is about the child care assistance portal and resources for both parents and potential providers.
Paul Szmal: Julie, thanks for this information as always. You're doing great stuff and thanks for sharing it with us.
Julie Champion: Thank you, Ted. We'll see you next month.
