Hanna Family Day Homes Inc. support to families expanding to Oyen

By Gwen Snell
Freelance Journalist

Melanie Jensen is pleased to announce that Hanna Family Day Homes Inc. will expand its services to include Oyen. The expansion of services beyond Hanna and Drumheller is in response to requests for services from the area residents.

Oyen presently has several quality private childcare providers servicing the community, but they lack a crucial component for subsidization – they are not licensed. As a result, parents and providers are missing out on subsidies and support only available to licensed programs through the province of Alberta. Hanna Family Day Homes Inc. intends to change that status by encouraging both new and existing educators (providers) to join the team and become licensed with agency support through Hanna Family Day Homes Inc.

Jensen stated that she was recently one of the few applicants who obtained the province of Alberta’s Spaces Creation Grant for the area. This grant will be key in securing more licensed spaces, enabling Jensen to administer an educator incentive of $500 per child up to a maximum of 6 children. It will also assist with funding to purchase equipment and possible home renovations that may be required to operate.

Jensen clarified that the Family Day Homes provides childcare in a small group setting and are not to be confused with facility-based child care.

No stranger to the childcare services, Jensen began in 1999 as an Approved Provider. In 2011, McMan Family Day Home was awarded the contract for this area, with Melanie Jensen employed through McMan as the Coordinator/Consultant for the program. What spurred Hanna Family Day Homes into existence? When McMan announced they would not renew their contract to provide childcare services, that stirred Jensen into establishing Hanna Day Homes Inc. “I knew that this would be a significant blow to families and Educators in our community. Being we were the only licensed program in which parents have access to subsidies and grants, many would not be able to afford the cost of care without funding supports. Childcare Educators would lose Agency supports and funding as well, which would likely have led to them having to change their fee structures and result in loss of income.”

Supports for licensed Family Day Homes is substantial. Families benefit from funding, monitoring of childcare programs, subsidies, applications and placement services. Educators help with funding wage top-ups and professional development in addition to the agency support of invoicing and guaranteed pay, collection of fees, mentorship and access to resources and professional development opportunities. In addition, the Educators are included under the Liability Insurance coverage.

Financially, the funding levels make for an impressive incentive for Educators to take part in a licensed program. Professional development funding amounts to $2,000 annually, and the top-up wage is based on a scale in conjunction with the levels for Child Care Educators. Several Educators in the area are currently working to obtain their Level 3 Child Care Educator through Red Deer Polytech, including Jensen. Obtaining advanced education is just one more way to support the program and children, according to Jensen.

Becoming established with a licensed program in the area begins with connecting with Melanie Jensen. Presentation of an informational package that contains outlines on government standards, the requirement of criminal background checks, a child intervention check, and two in-home visits to ensure that the space is safe and appropriate for child care services. Once established, the educators are required to provide monthly documentation of program planning as well as a menu that follows the Canada Food guide.

“Educators offer programming that supports the development of the “whole” child, Social, Physical, Intellectual, Creative, Emotional – they maintain records and adapt programming to suit the needs of each individual in care. They are attentive to the unique needs of each child in care. They work with parents to ensure expectations are being met.”