Organizing Child Care for your Follen Event  Click here for a printable PDF of this same information.

Follen has a small budget that allows for Child Care to take place during church sponsored programs. Please note that child care can be arranged for children up to 11 years only.  Also, for purposes of safety, we require a minimum of two care providers, and a minimum ratio of 1 care provider: 5 children (1:3 for infants/toddlers.) If you would like to set up child care for your event, here are the steps:

1. Contact Melissa Hawkins at nursery@follen.org 2-4 weeks prior to the event. Please provide her with the following information:

• The organizer’s name and best contact info.
• The name of the event.
• Date and time of the event, including when you want care providers to arrive, and what time they can anticipate leaving.
• Location of the event, and if not at Follen, a description of the room(s) in which child care will be held.
• Supplies that will be available for children to use for this event.
• Whether or not food will be provided for the children and care providers. (Please ask Melissa for menu suggestions!)
• The number of children anticipated and the age range.

2. Melissa will recruit child care from among the teens and young adults who have been trained to do this work with us. Once she has secured the care providers, she will confirm via email. Please recognize that we cannot guarantee that care providers will be available, though Melissa will do everything she can to meet your request.
3. On the day of the program or event, please plan to meet the care providers 20 minutes prior to the event to go over needed information (eg. time food will be brought in, a list of expected participants, a sign-in sheet with cell phone numbers, etc.)
4. Please plan to meet briefly with the care providers after the event to make sure all children are picked up, the space is returned to order, and that the care providers have no concerns to report.
5. Melissa will report hours to the Church Administrator for payment within 1 week after the event. Please note that Child Care Providers will be paid a minimum of two hours for any event, even if they are present less time. Should they arrive as scheduled and not have any children show up, they will still be paid for the minimum of two hours, though schedulers are welcome to ask their assistance for those hours with any safe and reasonable task.

Because of the cost to the church when no children are present for scheduled care, we encourage planners to ask for RSVPs from parents, and note that Child Care will be cancelled if no one reserves at least 3 days in advance. It is up to the event planners to inform the Child Care providers and Melissa that their services will not be needed. Failure to inform these people may cost the church $60 or more, depending on how many were scheduled.