Join Us at the Fair!

VACCRRN and the State Fair have joined together for our third annual Virginia Child Care Day at the Fair on Wednesday, September 30!  We are proud to present Ready, Set, Imagine!, a series of interactive, educational workshops performed by Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.  Wolf Trap workshops infuse the experiences of art and music to enhance young children’s developmental skills and improve outcomes in key areas such as emergent literacy and language development.  Ready, Set, Imagine! will teach you storytelling techniques to open the door to children’s reading verbalizing and problem-solving skills. 

Workshops will be held Wednesday, September 30 at 9:30am, 10:30am, 11:30am and 1:30pm.  Educational Exposition tickets are $5 per child and one FREE adult chaperone admission per 8 children.  Additional adults pay $11 for a walk-around ticket.  Rides and other attractions are additional – but there is NO CHARGE for attending the workshop!  Register now for your field trip to the Fair!

Put your business in the spotlight – Join us as a sponsor!

Imagine exposing over 2,000 potential customers from across the state to your services and your branding!  If you would like to take advantage of a great marketing opportunity to place your business in the lime-light to a broad, statewide audience, and do a little something special for your community, please join us as a sponsor of our Ready, Set, Imagine! event at the Fair! 

Details on sponsorship are found here.  Please contact VACCRRN at 804-285-0846 to sign on as a sponsor today!

Sleeping and hiding children are being left on buses, vans and in cars. The children most at risk are birth through third grade and children with disabilities. They are small, quick, act without thinking, and are not aware of the potential dangers of their actions. Even though drivers have appropriate training for transporting young children, we are still faced with the fact that smaller children can hide easily, bus rides can be long, and there are social pressures on drivers that result in distractions.

Experienced drivers, child care providers, parents and other adults believe that they would NEVER leave a child on a bus, van or in a car.  Because we are confident in our abilities to care for children, we may become over-confident and put ourselves at greater risk for making safety checks in vehicles at the end of each route.

Most drivers experience route hypnosis when they drive the same route, at the same time, with the same children every day for an extended period of time. The interiors of these transport vehicles present several challenges for drivers trying to locate children. There are shadows, glare spots, low-level lighting, dark seats and floors, and nooks and crannies. As busy professionals, we get distracted with our schedules, traffic and students fighting, and our own personal problems; we’re only human!  Even a momentary distraction can create a lapse in our thinking and our actions.

The most important part of the loading and unloading process should be LOOKING FOR CHILDREN LEFT on buses, vans and in cars. Drivers should have a child check system in place that is strictly followed after each and every route!  Drivers and other available staff should perform child checks on their vehicles IMMEDIATELY after the last child is dropped off - never wait until the vehicle is back at the bus garage, center or home.  

Things to Remember:
*ANYONE could leave a child in a vehicle unintentionally!
* Have a system in place and follow it strictly!
*Increase light inside your vehicle to make searching       easier!
*Tell students to notify you if they see another child hide or fall asleep!
*Perform checks immediately after last child is dropped off!
*Look behind and under ALL seats and equipment!
*Have an assistant or other staff help you conduct checks! 
*Check, and re-check!

Always spend that extra 30 seconds to ensure no children have been left behind!  You can prevent a tragedy and save a life! 

The information and materials used for this article were kindly provided by Utica National Insurance Group.  Contact Utica today about setting up child care business insurance!  Visit them here! 

Licensing Update

In order to reduce costs, Licensing will no longer routinely mail to providers free copies of standards and regulations or information about changes in Licensing standards, laws affecting regulated facilities, upcoming trainings or provider meetings, etc.  

Information will now be distributed via email or automated (pre-recorded) calling for providers with no email address, and posted on the VDSS public website under “Notices for Providers.”

Notices for licensed centers are posted here
Notices for licensed homes are posted here

How to find us

Call 1-866-KIDS-TLC and enter your zip code to be connected to your local CCR&R, or click here for their contact information.