ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996 TAG: 9601110126
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Workplace
SOURCE: CAROL KLEIMAN CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Day by day: Older kids need things to do after school, too.
You've finally gotten your youngest child off to kindergarten and, except for days when your child becomes ill or school holidays, you'll never again have to worry about child care.
Right?
Wrong.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are 18.2 million children aged 6 to 17 who require after-school supervision.
Some may think teen-agers really don't fit into the category of being watched by an adult during nonschool hours. But consider this: When my kids were little, I always wanted to be there to greet them at the front door. When they became teen-agers, I still wanted to be there - but this time to protect the front door.
``Kids of all ages need productive activities to do when school is out,'' said Barbara Reisman, executive director of the Child Care Action Campaign, a national nonprofit coalition based in New York. The coalition works to increase the availability of quality, affordable child care.
``What the children get may not be called child care, but it's a needed outlet for their energy, and communities are addressing that need,'' Reisman said. ``In 1993, there were nearly 50,000 schools, child-care centers, religious institutions and Y's providing after-school programs.''
Reisman, who has an MBA from Harvard University, says the need for school-age child care is underscored by these facts: the surge in phone calls to working parents from their children at 3 p.m. weekdays, announcing they've arrived home safely; that children spend a ``startling'' 80 percent of waking hours outside of school, probably parked in front of a TV set; and most adolescent crime occurs between 3 and 6 p.m.
And one more: After-school programs help youngsters ``develop skills that will help them be successful adults.''
Reisman, who has always worked outside the home, is the mother of Leah, 15, and Aaron, 12. She says that ``like most child-care advocates, I have lived it. I knew child care would be a problem because most schools aren't organized to respond to the changes - the number of employed mothers - that have occurred.''
After school is over for the day in Montclair, N.J., Reisman says, ``My daughter is on the field hockey team and practices for three hours. My son does community service once a week for Homecorps, a project to rehabilitate housing and provide it to low- and moderate-income families. Sometimes, he goes to the after-school YMCA, where fifth- and sixth-graders work as volunteers in child-care centers. And he also goes to religious school.''
But for the child-care expert, even more supervision is needed. So she and her husband, Eric Scherzer, who works for a labor union, alternate being at home after school one day a week.
The fact is that many mothers of older children work, and they need help with supervising their children when they can't be there.
``Parents need information about what kind of help is out there,'' Reisman said. ``Our coalition also wanted to know what is out there and who is doing something of interest.''
To find out, her child-care group and the School Child Care Project of the Center for Research on Women, at Wellesley College, analyzed programs nationwide.
The result is a helpful publication, ``Parents' Guide to School-Age Children Care,'' which includes vital data - from how to select the right after-school program to how to start your own. The guide also has a list of state day-care licensing offices and names of groups active in child care.
The research turned up programs with fees ranging from $30 to $41 a week.
Some of the findings:
Boston has a grass-roots group called Parents United for Child Care, which has before- and after-school programs and worked to get bus schedules changed to accommodate the children.
Edina, Minn., has a program called Wise Guys, held at a community agency with a music, computer and homework room.
Buehler YMCA in Palatine, Ill., has shared its expertise and helped open after-school child-care programs at the request of the American Business Collaboration for Dependent Care, which funds the program.
South Brunswick, N.J., has an after-school community-service program in its schools.
For information about agencies in your community, call Child Care Action Campaign at (800) 424-2246. To order the guide, send $5 to the Campaign at 330 Seventh Ave., 17th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10001.
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