The Family Child Care (FCC) program offers flexible hours in child care for Soldiers who need extended hours to fulfill their mission.
FCC is an integral part of the Child and Youth Services (CYS) child care system available on Army garrisons. FCC provides quality home-based care for children 4 weeks to 12 years old and it is offered in government-owned and government-leased housing located on post.
“The best thing about FCC for Soldiers is it provides different types of programs and care from full-time care to part-time or hourly care. We do extended care, which is simply after the hours the normal programs are closed, as well as weekends and overnights,” said Suzanne Anderson, FCC director, Morale, Welfare and Recreation. “There's also mission-related extended care for single Soldiers or dual military families who have to find child care on those off times so they can still focus on the mission.”
FCC has unique qualities that make it a preferred choice for many families. It offers flexible hours including full-day, part-day, extended/overnight, weekend and hourly care in a comfortable home setting. FCC also offers a 15% cost savings compared to Child Development Centers and School Age Care fees.
“Parents do get a 15% discount if they use an FCC home, depending on the type of care needed. Right now we have one FCC provider offering full-time care,” said Anderson. “I have another provider who is going through the training who will offer full-day care, but the rest of them choose to do hourly care.”
According to Anderson, more single Soldiers and dual military families are using FCC homes to get worry-free mission-related child care. When they need child care to work mission-related hours, it is at no cost for the Soldier.
“The Army pays for mission-related child care as long as the Soldier has the documentation that the hours are mission related,” Anderson said. “We also have a program called deployment hours where patrons can receive 16 hours per month of free child care per child with proper verification of the service member’s deployment orders.”
“Soldier-parents must register their child(ren) with Parent Central Services at Child and Youth Services in Building 4700,” said Anderson. “They can mix or match the child care services that work best for them regardless of whether it's in a center or an FCC home.”
Anderson said the centers do not offer hourly child care currently because of issues with staffing and COVID-19.
“There are all these obstacles that prevent us from doing hourly care in the centers, however, FCC homes can absorb those hourly patrons that just need to go to the gym, get a hair appointment or just take some time for themselves,” said Anderson.
“The charge is $4 an hour per child. The price is reasonable if parents just need short-term care or hourly care. The FCC homes provide hourly care if it is available because they have to meet ratios like the centers,” said Anderson. “There are no limits on hours worked for FCC providers who have gained full certification and have the extended care endorsement so they can provide care on weekends and evenings.”
The Army does set ratios for FCC providers on how many children they can care for at a time. They can only have six children — including their own children — and only two of the children can be under the age of 2.
FCC providers are contracted with the Army, they are not government employees. It is their private business but they are under the umbrella of CYS, which means that they're inspected and everything has to be up to standard, and they receive rigorous training the same as child and youth program assistants who work in a center. They are insured through the Army in case of an accident or negligence.
FCC providers are vetted and only the best qualified candidates are recommended for certification. Providers must complete background checks and regular home inspections as a part of certification. They also receive paid ongoing training for professional development.
Army policy requires that anyone providing care on a regular basis for more than 10 child care hours per week must be certified through Child and Youth Services as an FCC provider. Providing unauthorized child care in government owned/leased housing puts you at risk of losing your housing privileges. Unauthorized child care by an uncertified person puts your child at risk.
CYS is always looking for FCC providers to join the child care team at Fort Sill. If you are interested in finding out more about becoming an FCC provider, call Anderson at 580-558-4301.
Check out all the photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortsillcannoneer/albums/72177720299408994.
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