In order to retain your family child care permit, you are required to take 16 hours of training each year.

Participating in ongoing professional development is important because it helps you learn the skills you need to support young children’s healthy physical and emotional development and readiness for school. Ongoing education also provides an opportunity to build your own business skills to help your business thrive and grow stronger. Each of these is important to ensure that your home-based child care program is able to support the children in your care and also provide a regular income for your own family.

Child Care Training and Professional Development

The Institute for Early Learning (IFEL) offers free professional development workshops that will help you meet your yearly training hours and help strengthen your knowledge of key early care and education skills. As a permitted family child care provider, you are eligible to enroll in these workshops for free.

Register for available workshops.

Building a Successful Family Child Care Business

Learn more about the family child care business classes CEPS offers throughout the year.

The Women’s Business Center also offers four free classes to increase the success of family child care providers. These are:

• Growing Your Child Care Business: This workshop is especially useful for new family child care providers interested in learning business basics, including record-keeping and simple marketing strategies.
• Marketing Your Business for Success: This workshop addresses additional marketing strategies and ways to network to increase your business, including website development and the use of social media.
• Next Steps in Growing Your Child Care Business: This workshop includes additional low-cost marketing ideas, beginning business planning and interviewing skills.
• Smart Contracts and Communication: This workshop can help family child care providers to effectively set expectations with parents through solid, well-written contracts and confident clear verbal communication. Class includes sample contract and simulated phone interviews.

You may attend all four of these business workshops at no cost to you. If you need more personalized help, you may wish to sign up for an individual counseling session to meet with one of the Women’s Business Center counselors who will work with you to explore the business strategies that might work best for you.

Learn more about the Women’s Business Center.