Child care in Leitrim
Over the past few decades, childcare facilities that developed in Leitrim were largely voluntarily run and sessional in nature, primarily with the intention of offering a social and developmental outlet to young toddlers. As more and more people are working outside the home and parents recognise the benefits of playgroups, out of school, crèche and childminding services for children and their value as a support for families in difficulty, the demand for childcare facilities in Leitrim has increased.
The Leitrim County Childcare Committee was established in 2001 and brings together representatives of parents, childminders, childcare providers, statutory, social partners and voluntary agencies with a remit for or interest in childcare provision. This provides a forum for the co-ordination of all support and activities in relation to childcare services for parents and children in the county. The new childcare programme 2006 – 2010 is under the Childcare Directorate, Office of the Minister for Children, Department of Health and Children.
Early Years Support and Development Programme: This programme provides development support to all childcare services to develop and expand their service with a particular focus on playgroups, full day care services and parent/carer and toddler groups.
Childminding Initiative. This project supports childminders and potential childminders by providing information,funding support,networking on a regular basis and a programme of training relevant to new and experienced childminders.
Out of School Services Programme. A programme of support has been developed to assist after-school, summer schemes and breakfast clubs to develop and expand.This includesdevelopment support, funding support, training, ongoing information and networking.
Four sub-committees and three networks feed into the work of the committee:
The Operational Sub-committee oversees tasks related to finance, staff support and development, policy, monitoring, evaluation, planning and public relations/information.
The Equality and Diversity Sub-committee co-ordinates actions relating to access and diversity, social inclusion and disadvantage.
The Development, Training and Quality Sub-committee assesses how and where development support should be delivered to new and existing facilities.
The Appraisal Sub-committee appraise capital and staffing funding applications in co-ordination with Pobal.
Networks include: Parents Network, Childminders Network and Childcare network