Child care questions answered for working parents

Raising children can be overwhelming – but you don’t have to navigate those challenges alone. That is the message Early Childhood Education Initiatives wanted caregivers to hear during the Working Parents Resources Roundtable on Sept. 12.

The virtual event, part of the group's Lunch & Learn series, gathered representatives from Hokie Wellness, Faculty Affairs, Human Resources, as well as faculty and staff representatives, who shared resources related to their areas:

• Ana Agud, manager, Work/Life Program, Hokie Wellness, and member of the Early Childhood Education Initiatives' Advisory Working Group
• Katie Carmichael, associate professor, English department, and also member of the Advisory Working Group
• Sandee Cheynet, associate vice president, Human Resources
• Rachel Gabriele, associate vice provost, Faculty Affairs

Kim Thomason, program manager for Early Childhood Education Initiatives, moderated the discussion with time at the end to answer participants’ more specific questions.

What benefits are available for employees and students?

Over their discussion, the panelists highlighted how Virginia Tech’s resources continue to grow through the work of Early Childhood Education Initiatives and the many partnerships being made on and off campus. Whether you’re expecting your first child or fifth, they recommend checking-in to see what support is available to you:

Policies

• Employees, after meeting specific criteria, are eligible for eight weeks of paid parental leave in the event of a birth, adoption, fostering, or the custodial placement of a child that can be used in addition to annual leave.
• Planning for Baby programs, held throughout the year for faculty and for staff, go over the latest parental leave and child care options.
• Qualified faculty can request modified duties to support their transition from parental leave back into full-time responsibilities.

Child care

• Virginia Tech partners with five child care centers in the New River Valley and Roanoke. Parents who need early care and education are encouraged to contact these child care partners and follow their specific enrollment protocols.
• Employees have unlimited, premium access to the Care.com network for finding short- and long-term child care, tutoring, and other services.
• Little Hokie Hangout is a flexible, parent-cooperative child care program for ages 2-5 that caters to graduate student families. Faculty and staff pay an increased rate.
• Kids’ Night Out, hosted by the Virginia Tech Women’s Center, offers free, weekly child care for children ages 2-10 of students on Thursdays, 6:30-8p.m. The Women’s Center publishes the sign-up link every Monday afternoon.
• The Dependent Care Travel Grant Program is a pilot program that reimburses faculty of participating colleges — the College of Science and College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences — up to $1,000 per academic year to cover care-related expenses incurred from traveling for work. Contact your dean’s office for more information about the availability of the program in your college.
• Virginia Tech employees receive a discount toward Cultural Care Au Pair to host an au pair at home, which offers cultural experience for the whole family while helping parents.

Additional resources

• Over 30 lactation rooms are available for faculty, staff, students, and guests to request across multiple campuses. A map created by Julie Carlson in Hokie Wellness shows the locations of the Blacksburg lactation rooms and how to schedule them. These rooms can also be found in a layer for the Virginia Tech Interactive Campus Map
• The Early Childhood Education Initiatives team has gathered Virginia Tech, local, and state resources for raising children with disabilities

More information on these and other resources can be found at caregiving.vt.edu. The webpage centralizes information for caregivers and was redesigned in late summer to better organize the growing amount of information. 

What can we expect from Early Childhood Education Initiatives this next year?

While Virginia Tech has built a competitive repository of resources since Early Childhood Education Initiatives launched in 2021, Thomason said there are specific areas the group is continuing to explore, including:

• Finding more flexible care options that are available outside of an 8-to-5 work schedule
• Expanding parent education and outreach opportunities
• More opportunities for Virginia Tech parents to build community, on top of the Working Parents Facebook group, such as the Working Parents meetup held Sept. 14 at Hand-in-hand. Another meetup is being planned for spring.
• Continue to support the early childhood education workforce through training and workforce development, and ensure child care opportunities remain for employees

What if I need help?

Many of the new resources Early Childhood Education Initiatives helped initiate in recent years — such as the lactation room layer on the Virginia Tech Interactive Campus Map, the yearly summer camp compilations, and the newly formed parent meetup — came about from working group and employee feedback.

If you are facing a barrier in your caregiving journey or have questions about your options, contact Kim Thomason, one of the panelists, or schedule a confidential office hour with a working group member.

And if you want to stay in the loop about caregiving resources, join the Working Parents Facebook group. You can also sign up for the Working Parents listserv by emailing Christine Dennis Smith.