 It can be difficult for a childcare professional to see a young child hurt or abused by an adult or someone they know and love. You may experience a time when a suspected case of abuse or neglect will need to be documented and reported. Although this may be difficult to do, it is essential in order to protect a child in your care. Below are some questions and answers that may help you as a childcare professional when it comes to handling suspected child abuse cases. Question: What can I do to help a child that has been abused? Answer: As a child care provider, it is your responsibility to create a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment for all of the children in your care. Children who have experienced abuse are no different in their need for this type of environment. Maintaining a program where children are safe, nurtured, and supported by trusting adults will help children who have been victims of abuse a great deal. In addition to maintaining these standards in your program you should be well aware of mandated reporting laws and procedures as were covered in this course. As a mandated reporter, it is your responsibility to report abuse, but not to attempt to investigate the claims. When working with children who were victims of abuse it is important to keep this in mind as well. Question: Do I need to take further action if it has been determined that abuse has occurred and how do we keep the child from being moved from foster home to foster home? Answer: As a licensed child care provider, or a staff member of a child care program, it is not your responsibility to take any further action other than to report the suspected abuse and to document. If CPS determines that there is sufficient reason to investigate the reported abuse, or if the abuse is determined to have occurred, then CPS is in charge of determining what happens next. You should follow whatever instructions you are given by CPS or DEL regarding the matter. Once the child becomes a ward of the state, and enters foster care, unfortunately you cannot control them being moved between foster homes. Question: What do I do if I have been reported for suspected child abuse in the center where I work? Answer: Here is more detailed information straight from Washington State DSHS: https://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca/child-safety-and-protection/what-happens-once-abuse-neglect-reported Please consult your director or licensor for more information if you are unsure. For more information on Child Abuse and Mandated Reporting in WA State, register for our two hour course: https://www.cdastars.com/store/p383/Child_Abuse_and_Mandated_Reporting_for_Child_Care_Professionals_in_Washington_.html Have information to share? Please use the comments section below...
 Most people want to feel supported and valued in their place of employment. Being in an environment that is positive and respectful motivates employees to do well in their job and to stick around. If you have high employee turnover, it may be that your employees are not motivated to stay. You may need to evaluate what is important to each employee and help support them in a way that makes them feel encouraged and appreciated. This could range from thank you’s that show appreciation to simple stress-less techniques that allow employees to cope with their frustrations. Having these things in place may help increase employee longevity in your program. Below are some questions and answers that may help you as a childcare professional, whether you are the director of a program or a teacher in a program. Question: I don’t feel supported at work, what would you recommend to help me stay motivated? Answer: It is important to be able to advocate for yourself as an educator and childcare professional. If you feel that you are not getting the support that you need you will want to professionally bring this up with your director and offer some ideas for further support. Keep in mind that education is a stressful and greedy career that demands a lot from people. There will be many things that you can do personally to lighten your stress and there are possibly things that your center or director can help with as well. Some suggestions that I often give professionals are to find ways to simplify their daily tasks and ways to destress. For some people that means relying on support staff for more help. Other times it means cutting out the smaller things that are truly unimportant or getting your students involved in some tasks to simplify your day to day routines. Question: Is it a good idea to have a “teacher of the month”? Answer: Teacher of the month may be beneficial to motivate some teachers and may do the opposite for others. It is important to know your staff before making these decisions. Some programs will actually have students vote for teacher of the month and that seems to have a very positive influence on morale. After all, children are the reason we teach! Question: I am the only person running my in-home daycare, what resources would you recommend so that I don’t burnout? Answer: Since you are not going to have any staff to mentor and support I would recommend researching some self-care and burnout prevention resources. It is important that you take care of yourself so that you can run at optimum level and not feel overwhelmed or overworked. Here are some resources that you may enjoy: Question: I am a highly sensitive person and tend to be more empathetic, which I believe causes me to feel more exhausted after work than the typical person. Do you have any suggestions that will help me from getting burned out? Answer: Working with children and having those extra perceptual tendencies as you do can definitely take a toll on your energy level at the end of the day. If you are like most child care providers you have an absolute passion for the wellbeing and success of all children. This often means that you put their wellbeing before your own. My first piece of advice is to find the balance in this. It is challenging to do initially, but if you are able to balance your needs with your work demands you will find that you are a better educator. Take deep breaths and short breaks if things get overwhelming. Ask for help and delegate tasks if you need to. Next, consider a low impact activity after work each day such as yoga or meditation. These may not be your preference but something that requires little energy on your part and a relaxing environment may be extremely beneficial. Make this your transition routine from work to home life and see if that helps you to feel less drained. My last piece of advice is to accept that you cannot take on the entire world and fix it, though I guarantee that you wish you could. Try not to get wrapped up in the negativity of things around you and instead see the positive and try to be a part of that. For more information on Mindful Leadership, register for our three hour course: https://www.cdastars.com/store/p451/Mindful_Leadership.html For more information on Motivating Morale: Keeping Staff Around, register for our two hour course: https://www.cdastars.com/store/p591/Motivating_Morale%3A_Keeping_Staff_Around.html For more information on Preventing Teacher Burnout, register for our one hour course: https://www.cdastars.com/store/p251/Preventing_Teacher_Burnout.html Have information to share? Please use the comments section below...
A childcare director has many responsibilities, not only to the parents and children in their program, but also to the employees that work for them. One of those responsibilities is to assess or evaluate employees. These assessments or evaluations can provide a great opportunity to find strengths and weaknesses in the employees, as well as within the program itself. The results can then be used to help build on the program in a positive way. Although some people or centers may think evaluations are stressful and unnecessary, they can ultimately be a valuable tool for most programs. Below are some questions and answers regarding evaluations for childcare professionals.  Question: How do you suggest we implement changes after we have completed an evaluation on a positive note? Can you provide examples of evaluation forms for childcare professionals? Answer: Ending your evaluations on a positive note is a great goal to keep in mind. In general, the plan of action piece comes at the end of the conversation so it does pose quite a challenge. I would recommend stating the plan of action or correction and then asking the staff member what you or your center can do to support them in making those changes or reaching those goals. A director should be realistically supportive in working with their staff to meet their goals or implement necessary changes. Another option may be to recommend a mentor teacher or further source of support and information. In addition to this, create a realistic timeline to check in with the staff member and see how these changes are going. As for evaluation form examples, evaluations differ so much from each center and even type of staff member, thus I would recommend that if you are not currently using one that benefits you, perhaps you can create your own in a Word Document. Another resource may be a paid curriculum site such as TeachersPayTeachers or similar. Question: How do you complete staff evaluations when you are short staffed? Answer: That is a great question and a common concern for many directors. Since each center is unique I can’t speak to specifics for your situation but I would be happy to give some suggestions to try to help.
I strongly urge you to continue doing evaluations and not to perceive them as a burden as they are extremely important tools for goal setting and improvement. Question: My staff do not like to be evaluated and get rather upset. How do I help them feel more comfortable during evaluations? Answer: It is important to understand that evaluations are stressful for teachers. They don’t enjoy being observed and often are worried about the outcome. It is your job to help alleviate this. In addition to this they put a great deal of preparation into the evaluated activities and really want to perform well. I suggest that you get authentic feedback from them regarding what would make them feel more comfortable and capable during evaluations. These concerns are also addressed throughout the training we offer, A Director’s Guide to Evaluations. If you are interested in registering for this one hour course, please use this link: https://www.cdastars.com/store/p598/Directors-Guide Question: I am the new director for a center and want to begin evaluating the environment as well as staff. What would be a good starting point and method for this? Answer: It sounds like you are on a fantastic path to making your staff feel comfortable with evaluations and protocol in your center. There are multiple things that need to be considered when implementing new evaluation systems and I think the best place to begin is in taking inventory of your staff’s needs and your center’s goals. Try providing a survey to your staff about their needs, habits, education, training, and more. You will be surprised at how much you learn based upon that simple survey! In addition to this you need to examine what your center’s goals are and what type of program you are providing to families. If your center is a Montessori-based center then your evaluations of both environment and staff must focus on Montessori elements. If your center caters to military families and their unique needs then that is where the evaluations should focus. Your center may also be part of a network of centers that provides evaluation resources and methods that must be followed. After you know the direction in which you are going with evaluation goals then you can start to develop a method that works best for you and your staff. For more information on A Director's Guide to Evaluations, register for our one hour course: https://www.cdastars.com/store/p598/Directors-Guide Have information to share? Please use the comments section below...
Question: Some of my staff members treat each other poorly and I have talked to them many times without success. What else can I do to encourage a positive work environment? Answer: The first step in resolving the problem is addressing it. You will need to let the team members that are not treating others with respect know that their behavior is inappropriate, and if the behavior continues, disciplinary action will result. No one should have to work in a toxic work environment. Additionally, you will want to work with all of your staff members on creating a positive and more functional work environment. Here are some links to encourage staff to start working as a team:
Always be sure that you are modeling appropriate behavior in your center as well.  Question: I have a lead teacher that comes from a different background and always feels like she is being picked on by other staff members. She is unhappy but will not listen to my suggestions, what do you recommend? Answer: There will undoubtedly be conflict that arises with people coming from different backgrounds and experiences and I am happy to offer suggestions for working with challenging staff members. The biggest thing to understand is that communication is key! If there is a communication obstacle or challenge then there will eventually be bigger problems. Do what you can to alleviate these challenges in a respectful and meaningful way. In addition to this, give your staff communication strategies to use with everyone in the center, not just with this lead teacher. Maybe set up a teacher mailbox system or help align meetings and prep time to assist in this. For more information about communication between staff: Question: What do you do if a parent does not like one of the staff members? Answer: Unfortunately, there will be times when parents do not get along with teachers and vice versa. I think it is important to understand where the tension comes from before you can try to remedy the situation. It may boil down to a simple difference in expectations or something that was miscommunicated. If you can have a lead or support teacher assist with any communication with the parents this may help to smooth things over. Another thing that has always worked well for me in the past is to remain calm and kind and to always invite the parents to come and speak with the teacher whenever they feel they should. If the parents are aggressive and rude then it is the director’s job to step in and help. This can range between being present for teacher-parent conversations as a support or taking over communications directly. There is no one correct answer for this type of situation and it will take a lot of work to get to the root of the problem but it is completely necessary to do so. Question: I am a new director and the center I am at is having financial difficulties, how do I encourage the staff without coming off as threatening and unsupportive? Answer: The biggest suggestion I give to directors is to know their team and build relationships with them. This does take time but I think you will find that by investing the time and effort into really getting to know each individual will give you a great start. The second suggestion I usually give is to communicate! Communication breakdowns are the biggest source of stress due to misinterpretations. These misinterpretations can make directors seem more threatening and much less supportive. This is the opposite of what you want for an effective team. For more information on The Dream Team: Successful Team Building, register for our two hour course: http://www.cdastars.com/store/p599/Successful-Teambuilding Have information to share? Please use the comments section below...
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Successful Solutions Training in Child Development
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