Family Child Care Provider of the Year announced Published Jan. 20, 2009 By 305th Services Squadron McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. -- The 305th Services Squadron's headquarters recently named Michelle Barletta the Family Child Care Provider of the Year. Ms. Barletta, the wife of Tech. Sgt. Louis Barletta, 605th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, is the mother of two daughters and has been with the McGuire FCC program for four years. She has 15 years in early childhood profession and an associate degree in early education. "Michelle is an excellent FCC provider, but strives to continue developing professionally," said Marilyn Binns, 305th Services Squadron family child care coordinator. "This past year, she became our second FCC provider to become accredited. Accreditation is achieved with a thorough assessment of the environment as well as the provider's interaction with children, their curriculum and their interactions with parents." A FCC provider has to go through the same format as a Child Development Center caregiver to achieve accreditation. "Michelle had to complete a self-study, have parents fill out questionnaires, make all of her improvements, re-do her self-study, send in all her materials and then wait for a validation visit," Ms. Binns said. "The validator arrived and spent the entire day observing Michelle as she implemented her lesson plans and prepared food for the children in her care. Then the validator sat and had an interview with Michelle before completing her forms to send to the agency. Six weeks later, Michelle was notified she achieved her goal." In 2009, Ms. Barletta submitted her paperwork to undertake the test to become a Child Development Associate. The Council for Professional Recognition is the national agency that provides the CDA credential to center staff and FCC providers. This credential is awarded like a degree, assessing the knowledge the individual has about certain age groups, such as infants and toddler or pre-school. The provider CDA is harder to prepare for and obtain since a provider has to be knowledgeable in all age groups, including infants through 8 years old, Ms. Binns said. Only 1,000 out of 100,000 registered providers in the United States achieve the goal of being both accredited and CDA. "In the past year, Michelle has helped families through deployments, does wonderful developmental activities with children, and takes classes whenever she can to stay current on new early childhood information and to keep herself motivated," Ms. Binns said. Ms. Binns explained the level of commitment it takes to be an FCC provider - constant preparation is needed to stay on top of things. "Being an FCC provider is not a '9-to-5' job. You are constantly on your toes when the children are present and have additional duties when children leave for the day. After your child care day ends or begins, you still need to maintain the cleanliness and sanitation of your home, make sure family items are put up before the day starts, shop for, prepare and serve nutritional food for the children, attend monthly training, do family interviews, and maintain all necessary paperwork. Michelle makes this all look easy. She is one of the FCC providers fellow providers go to for mentoring and guidance. She helps them all with a sense of humor. Achievement of FCC Provider of the Year is evidence of commitment to a high-quality program and standard of professional development, Ms. Binns said. "Congratulations, Michelle, on such a high achievement and to all the other McGuire FCC providers working toward these same professional goals." To join Michelle in the FCC program, pick up a package in the FCC office at CDC 2. Fill out and submit it to the FCC office before the next orientation class, which will be held March 23-27. For questions or more information, call Marilyn Binns at (609) 754-5458.