Are you new to the child care field? Or have you been in the child care field for a while? Our Mentor Program may be for you! By the nature of their work, family child care providers tend to experience situations that can only be understood by others performing the same type of work. A large number of caring and patient providers leave the child care profession due to feeling isolated and frustrated, thus causing a shortage of quality care for children. These results prompted the DCFCCA Mentor Program.
There are two programs within the DCFCCA Mentor Program:
One-on-One Mentoring: This program is for newly licensed providers who would like one-on-one guidance with an experienced provider. The volunteer providers serving as mentors are trained in the principles of being an effective mentor and will receive guidance in sharing in the professional growth of newly licensed family child care providers.
If you are newly licensed and are interested in being mentored or if you have been licensed for awhile and you have the wisdom to share with new providers, please email mentor@dcfcca.org for more information.
Provider Care Line: This program is a phone network of experienced family child care professionals who are willing to answer questions from other child care providers. This network is available to any Dakota County family child care provider who is in need of assistance, and is generally used by providers who only have a couple of questions. Volunteers choosing to be Provider Care Line mentors serve in an ongoing capacity, and their names and numbers are shown below.
If you need some support or have a question, these providers have volunteered to be just a phone call away.