This premier summit was featured as an important step in achieving President Clinton’s directive to OPM "... to take significant new steps to improve the quality of Federally sponsored child care in the Executive branch."

The audience represented over 250 work and family and child are coordinators, child development providers and specialists, unions, and educators from state agencies, the private sector, and 42 Federal agencies.

The chief dilemmas challenging employers and employees as they strive to better balance both work and family demands center around maintaining affordability and quality. Four plenary sessions and concurrent workshops on 20 different topics explored solutions to these challenges.

Keynote speaker
Bettye Caldwell offered a new perspective on approaches to achieving quality child care.

"The Office of Personnel Management is here to help," she said. "In our role as the government’s human resources policy maker, we are in a unique position to be an agent of change."

OPM, Ms. Lachance said, continues to find ways to support Federal employees with their child care responsibilities, to identify ways to improve the quality and affordability of child care arrangements, and to encourage employees to participate in a wide array of family-friendly opportunities. She mentioned OPM’s newest publications, The Child Care Resources Handbook, Establishing a Workplace Parenting Support Group, and Establishing a Nursing Mothers Program (this booklet featured later in this issue; visit www.opm.gov for more information about these booklets), which were available at the conference.

The child care field "entered the dark ages," she said, when these programs were abruptly closed as women were laid off to provide jobs for the returning service-men at the end of WWII. Both public and private funds to operate high quality programs disappeared at the time.

"A renaissance began in the mid-sixties, again coinciding with a national emergency.  A sharp increase in the number of women entering the labor force was part of this; another major determinant was the accumulation of evidence pertaining to the importance of early years of life for optimal development," said Dr. Caldwell.

As a consequence, she said, child care has been struggling to achieve levels of quality that are necessary to support factors for optimal child development.

Dr. Caldwell called the acceleration of public/private partnerships one of the most gratifying contemporary movements since increased funding helps to create quality programs. Other conference sessions featured leaders in providing quality child care who discussed core quality care issues, including security and safety, assessing quality care in multiple settings,  and making parents informed consumers.

Some successful approaches to the challenge of affordability were shared, such as forming public/private partnerships, conducting fundraising for child care, and setting up a consortium for child care affordability. The summit also featured a show-case of model Family-Friendly work-place initiatives. One panel presented divergent views from the perspectives of the provider, the parent, and the employer on balancing work and family with child care.

Attendees called the Summit "great," "fantastic" and "very informative." The Summit Co-Chairs and steering committee members were pleased that their objectives were achieved to:

As a final goal, the OPM Family-Friendly Workplace Advocacy Office launched their Work/Life Mentoring Program at the Summit in hopes that new partnerships can be forged and a rich sharing of information can continue. 

While attendees learned a lot, they also had fun; entertainment was provided at the luncheon and there were plenty of opportunities to network with peers in the child care field.