Before and After School Care Program - Essay Example

Before and After School Care Program At present, many parents are able to give care to their children before going to school and after coming home from school. However, due to the financial crises that have been hitting the country for a long time, the number of children whose parents are both working to fulfill financial needs of the family, including single parents that also work, has increased up to 62% (Theobald, 2000). This shift also caused the changes in the people who interact and care for children, and mostly these are non-family members such as nannies or baby-sitters, school teachers, child care center workers and before- and after-school care providers (Sonenstein, Gates, Schmidt, & Bolshun, 2002).

The before- and after-school programs provided education and care for children in an effective way so that parents would be able to work and add to the financial stability of the family, and for the children to have an enhanced development of their social and academic statuses (Blau & Currie, 2006). It was also reported that such programs that were designed to provide adult supervision to children by as much as two hours a day on average, depending on the age of the child. These activities are seen as extra-curricular activities that provide enrichment to a child’s development (Kleiner, Nolin, & Chapman, 2004).

While most young and preschool children are sent to public day care centers or made prior arrangements to schools for extra-curricular activities by their parents, some companies also started offering child day care centers and other before- and after-school programs for working parents’ children, for their peace of mind during work hours (Working Mother, 2003). Companies are also able to assist working parents of school-aged children by providing flexible work hours and even working at home in order for them to be able to both work for financial stability as well as to be able to supervise their children’s growth and development.

Another example on how companies are able to help working parents is by providing parental leave privileges for those who just had a baby either by birth or through adoption. Such benefits offered by the employers not only increase the morale of their employees, but also gives the company a good public image, which in turn could increase their workforce and decrease worker turnover (US Department of Labor, 1994). An example of a company that gives its parent employees a chance to work for longer hours with less hassle is Intermedics Co.

, whom in 1979 built and opened a high-quality child care center in Freeport, TX. Even if there is a charge of $15 a week for full-time child care, the job turnover rates decreased up to 37% and the reduced absenteeism resulted in the company saving more than $2 million for the first two years (US Department of Labor, 1994). Some companies do not provide child care services, but are able to assist their working parent- employees through other means. A center for mildly ill children named Chicken Soup collaborated with employers in such a way that employees who brought in their children to the center instead of letting them stay at home were still able to go to work due to the proximity of the center to the workplace.

Absenteeism was reduced and the employers were able to save up to 85% of the cost of having an absent employee (US Department of