Support and provide statewide leadership, vision, and support in promoting availability, affordability, and quality of child care in Maine Communities.

 

Maine’s Child Care Resource Development Centers support the work of the local Resource Development Centers (RDC’s).

Maine’s Child Care Resource Development Centers support the work of the local RDC’s, raising public awareness about the importance of quality child care.

 

Choosing child care is a very personal decision.  The choices parents make are intimately connected with their feelings about being parents and their relationship with their own children.  It’s also about child rearing and the best ways to raise a child, and concerns that influence their child care choices.  Parents need support and accurate information to make a good decision with their child care options.  The child care referral service offered by the RDC’s can provide assistance to all parents, regardless of income.

 

There are many ways to help parents choose child care - through telephone calls, emails, face to face interviews, community based educational sessions and written material.  Whatever the method used, any one of the eight Resource Development Centers have child care resources and referral counseling available.

· Provide technical assistance to the local RDC

· Collect, analyze and report current child care data and research, including data on child care supply and demand

· Support the local RDC in offering child care and parenting information and resources to families

· Support the local RDC as they educate and engage child care providers about the Quality Rating System (QRS), a state program used as a tool for parents to recognize and choose quality care for their children

· Support the local RDC as they educate and engage parents about quality child care

· Support the local RDC as they educate and engage elected officials and decision makers about quality child care

· Each local RDC is a member of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA)

· Each RDC uses a national database called NACCRRAware to provide the most accurate available child care resources to families

 

Click on the County names to find the local RDC.