Enhancements in Yale’s Child Care Services
Date: November 10, 2005
To: Members of the Yale Community
From: Andrew D. Hamilton and John E. Pepper
Re: Enhancements in Yale’s Child Care Services
As many of you know, the University has been engaged in a comprehensive review of the child care services available to the Yale community, an analysis of the needs of Yale parents for enhancements to those services, and planning for initiatives to achieve improvements. We write now to inform you of the key findings of our review and to describe our proposed plan to enhance child care services for families throughout the University.
In reviewing Yale's current child care services, we gathered information and opinions from a variety of sources including early childhood development experts at the University and in the local community, peer institutions, New Haven area child care providers, a nationally-known consulting organization, and, most importantly, individuals from every sector of the Yale community. The review culminated in a campus-wide survey, administered and analyzed with the assistance of local experts and the Consulting Practice of Bright Horizons Family Solutions. Responses were received from 27% of the surveyed population of over 18,000 faculty, staff, postdoctoral trainees, and graduate and professional school students. Key findings of the review are discussed below. A summary of specific survey results is posted at www.yale.edu/worklife/.
Not surprisingly, all aspects of our review reinforced the central importance to Yale families of quality child care and underscored the impact that child care obligations can have on work and scholarship at the University. That said, we learned that the types of child care services that are used by Yale parents vary among different Yale constituencies. Although the call for an increase in center-based child care slots stimulated our initial review and remains a key issue, the review repeatedly identified affordability as a central concern for a number of Yale parents. Access to back-up care when usual care providers are unavailable also emerged as a high priority for many Yale families.
Upon completion of the survey analysis late last spring, we intensified our planning for child care support enhancements. To address the diversity of needs expressed by the Yale community during the review, the planning process was designed to evaluate a number of enhancement options and, accordingly, produced recommendations for a series of initiatives rather than a single solution. We are pleased to report that, with the continued advice and input of the Yale community, the University is eager to move forward with the following initiatives:
- Yale plans to build a new child care center on or near campus to increase substantially the availability of infant-toddler and preschool center-based care. The University is currently engaged in discussions with a local child care provider regarding operational responsibility for the new center.
- The University intends to include dedicated back-up care slots in the new facility. Yale families, regardless of their primary source of child care, will have the opportunity to use back-up services at the new center.
- Until back-up care capacity is made available through the new center, Yale plans to make in-home back-up care available to families through an established provider. Negotiations with this back-up care provider are in process with the goal of inaugurating this service early in 2006.
- The University plans to support the efforts of child care experts from the Yale Child Study Center, in partnership with outside consultants, to pilot a program to expand the capacity and quality of existing center- and family-based child care in the New Haven area through the creation of a Yale-affiliated network. One objective of the network will be to provide services that address the unique needs and schedules of Yale families.
- The University will provide space and financial support for core staffing for a child care cooperative operated with parent participation. Discussions have been initiated with groups on campus that may be interested in launching such an initiative.
- The University will provide support to certain Yale-affiliated programs to allow them to expand sliding-scale tuition and scholarship assistance.
- The University will expand the informational resources and assistance available to families through the Yale Child Care Coordinator and the WorkLife Office.
- The University has created a new position, the Director of Staff Diversity and WorkLife, whose responsibilities will include high level coordination and oversight of child care services available to faculty, staff, and students.
- As announced earlier this semester, the University has enhanced its sick time policy to allow staff to use accrued sick time for the care of a sick child or other eligible family member. This enhancement took effect on November 1, 2005.
These new initiatives will supplement a number of high-quality child care services currently available to the Yale community. These include:
- The Yale-affiliated child care centers: Calvin Hill Day Care Center & Kitty Lustman-Findling Kindergarten, Edith B. Jackson Child Care Program, Phyllis Bodel Childcare Program at the Yale School of Medicine, and the Yale Law School Early Learning Program. See http://www.yale.edu/hronline/worklife/ccd.html#cc for more information.
- The Yale Early Childhood Education Program, a working coalition of Yale-affiliated child care center directors and the Yale Child Study Center Early Childhood Faculty.
- The Yale Child Care Coordinator, Susan Abramson (susan.abramson@yale.edu; 203-432-8069). See http://www.yale.edu/hronline/worklife/childcare.html for more information about child care resources.
- The Yale Babysitting Service. See http://www.yale.edu/babysitting/ for more information.
- The University-sponsored flexible spending account program, which enables faculty and staff to fund child care expenses with pretax dollars. See http://www.yale.edu/hronline/benefits for more information.
As is evident in the descriptions of the proposed new initiatives, we sought the advice and assistance of on-campus experts, providers, and users in exploring and developing options to address the needs of Yale families. As we move forward to shape and implement these initiatives, it is essential that we have the engagement and the input of the broader Yale community. Therefore, we are convening a special subcommittee of the University WorkLife Committee, which will include a number of parents from different parts of Yale, to advise and assist us in these efforts. We also invite members of the Yale community to submit comments to provost@yale.edu.
In closing, we would like to express our gratitude for the ongoing interest and engagement of the Yale community in this important issue. We look forward to working with you to advance our shared goal of improving the work environment and lives of Yale families.
