Quality Child Care Starts With the People Providing It

For parents, finding child care is about more than having somewhere for their children to spend the day. They want to know their children are safe, cared for, and learning while they are at work, school, or training.

That makes child care providers an important part of the workforce system. Through Child Care Scholarships and quality initiatives, Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast supports families while also helping connect them with providers that offer dependable care.

What Quality Looks Like in Practice

At Kids ‘R’ Kids Riverstone, Director Jamille Rodriguez said quality starts early. The center follows a curriculum beginning in infancy and continuing through the school-age years.

“We follow curriculum starting from the infants, 6 weeks old,” Rodriguez said. “So throughout the whole process from 6 weeks all the way up until they’re 11 years of age, there’s a curriculum being implemented in every single classroom.”

For parents, that means the child care they rely on while they work can also be an important part of their children’s early learning and development.

Rodriguez said Workforce Solutions also helps connect parents with providers. Some families may not know which providers accept Workforce Solutions assistance, particularly when child care options are limited in their area.

“When we offer that, that’s an added advantage to the parents because they know that they’re getting quality and trustworthy care for their child while they’re out there and they’re able to go into the field,” Rodriguez said.

Supporting Providers Along the Way

Workforce Solutions’ role goes beyond helping families pay for care. Programs such as Texas Rising Star also give participating providers resources to strengthen the quality of their programs.

Spector of McGovern Becker School said Texas Rising Star has provided her school with mentoring that includes regular meetings with administrators, classroom observations, and hands-on support for teachers.

She also pointed to grants connected to the program as another resource that has helped the school.

That support matters because quality care depends on the people working directly with children and the resources available to providers.

Connecting Quality Care With Workforce Participation

For parents, quality and access have to work together. A child care scholarship may help make care affordable, but parents also need to feel confident in the provider they choose.

That is where the different parts of the system connect. Workforce Solutions helps eligible families access child care, while providers deliver the day-to-day care and learning children need.

The scale of that work is significant. Starling, manager of Child Care Scholarships at Workforce Solutions, said the program assists approximately 45,000 children each year, with about 33,000 children in care daily.

That investment also has a direct workforce connection.

“Investing in child care means that our region will have more families who are able to enter the workforce and stay in the workforce because they’re not concerned about reliable child care,” Starling said. “So, it’s no longer a challenge or a barrier to employment.”

For Rodriguez, the value of dependable care comes down to giving parents confidence while they are at work.

For Spector, it means helping families access opportunities they might not otherwise be able to afford.

And for Workforce Solutions, supporting both families and providers is part of addressing a practical barrier to workforce participation.

“So, what we do in early childhood education really does matter,” Spector said.

Explore in-demand careers and connect with top employers at upcoming Workforce Solutions hiring events. Register today to secure your spot and access career-building resources.