FROM STAFF REPORTS

AUBURN — The National Association for Family Child Care recently awarded the country’s top honor for high-quality family child care programs to Joan Stinson, operator of Sugar and Spice Group Day Care in Wilsonville.

NAFCC accreditation is a rigorous quality improvement system that uses a set of over 300 standards to recognize high-quality child care programs operating in the residence of the child care professional. In Alabama, almost 11 percent of licensed family child care programs have achieved this recognition; considerably higher than the 2 percent nationwide average.

“I chose to become re-accredited because I just felt it was the right step to keep me on target and up-to-date on what I needed to know to continue providing high-quality child care,” Stinson said. “It is my constant goal and desire to always be accredited.

“I most enjoy is being able to bond with my children,” she added. “It’s just such a blessing to have a special closeness with them, and hearing them say ‘I love you Aunt Joan’ is priceless.”

To earn her seventh NAFCC accreditation, Stinson went through an extensive self-study, training and quality improvement process with the support of her mentor, Peggy Lucas from the Family Child Care Partnerships- Accreditation Facilitation Project, or FCCP-AFP, administered by Auburn University.

FCCP-AFP is a statewide quality enhancement, accreditation facilitation program funded through a contract with the Alabama State Department of Human Resources. It delivers mentoring, training, technical assistance and financial support to licensed family child care providers in Alabama seeking to attain national accreditation.

“NAFCC accreditation is recognition of a family child care providers’ commitment to quality caregiving and to continuous quality improvement,” said Caroline Martin, FCCP-AFP managing director. “A provider who attains NAFCC accreditation has reached a high level of professional practice in family child care, giving parents and families the assurance that the program is nationally recognized as such.”