June 16, 2005 Contact:
Terry T. Smith 777-4208

Home Care Provider Earns National Ranking

A Roanoke County woman has become the first in Southwest Virginia to earn Accreditation for Family Child Care from the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC).

Brenda Griffin, who operates Griffin Preschool and Daycare in her southwest county home, invested more than a year in attaining professional recognition as a provider of high-quality child care. She is enrolled in the United Way Success By 6 TM accreditation project that provides professional and financial support for local caregivers seeking to improve quality.

“It’s very exciting to see our first home-based candidate achieve accreditation,” said Danielle Yarber, chair of the United Way Success By 6 Leadership Council. “This is an important step in our goal of improving childcare quality in the Roanoke Valley.”

Griffin has 29 years’ experience in child care and holds a degree in early childhood development from Virginia Western Community College. She opened her home-based center 14 years ago, serving up to 12 children from 2.5 to 5 years of age.

Long a proponent of preparing children to enter school ready to learn, Griffin said she sought accreditation as a way to enhance her program to benefit children and their parents. NAFCC required her to show quality in six areas of operations:

• Relationships with children and families

• Environment and materials

• Activities

• Developmental learning goals

• Safety and health

• Professional business practices.

Griffin had to submit dozens of documents, undergo hours of training and host an NAFCC inspector to become accredited. NAFCC developed its first accreditation system in 1988, and adopted revised standards in 1999 that recognize the special nature of high quality in this special form of child care.

According to the NAFCC web site, Griffin is the 16 th Virginia home-based provider to earn accreditation. The recognition is good for three years and is renewable if standards continue to be met.

NAFCC serves as a national voice and networking system for family child care, encouraging professional development as providers reject the role of "baby-sitter" and instead seek to offer excellent care and education to young children and their families.

United Way of Roanoke Valley established Success By 6 in 1998, when dozens of community volunteers identified a great need for access to quality, affordable child care and support for working poor families with preschool children. Accreditation, provider education and childcare referral are key components of the local program.