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Andrew Moore

Children sleep Monday at the Head Start center in Seneca during an Early Head Start session. The child care facility on Perkins Creek Road is federally funded, and provides a myriad of child care services for no charge to qualifying families.

SENECA — Danita Freeman, site manager for Early Head Start at the Head Start center in Seneca doesn’t mind saying she’s proud of the child care facility for which she works. In 2006, the center, which implements a High/Scope learning curriculum, received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) — the gold standard to many in the child care profession.

“It’s something we definitely take a lot of pride in,” Freeman said.

Head Start requires at least a 4:1 ratio for infants, and at least two caregivers per room. Those caregivers are required to continuously augment their skills as child care professionals, and must have a minimum of 15 credit hours in child care courses, Freeman said.

As the push to improve child care standards in South Carolina grows, questions as to how to fund such improvement also come to the surface. Freeman said the Head Start program, which is federally funded, provides its services to qualifying families for free, and is in many ways a vision of what can be done if funds are in place.

“All Head Start programs get their funding from the federal government,” she said. “And they really show what a child care center can do with that kind of funding. Because of that help, we have our teachers constantly going back to school. Many of our teachers who have their associates degrees are going back to get their four-year degrees. When you have more money, you have more ways you can push for improvement.”

Caregivers are also required to follow a detailed training manual that meticulously tracks their training progress. They must also be CPR and First Aid certified. Head Start has also set a goal to have all teachers earning a B.A. by 2013.

“We bring children in who have never been in a child care environment,” Freeman said. “They’ve mostly been home or staying with family. And we teach them social relationship skills and interact with them. With preschoolers, we emphasize creativity and self-exploration. We want them to learn through play.”

DSS regulatory visit reports reveal a squeaky-clean record, as well. In the calendar year, a mere one deficiency has been cited. Ultimately, it is the relationship between the parents, the child and the care provider that creates a positive learning environment for a child, Freeman said.

“Parent/teacher communication is the basis for our success,” Freeman said.