Intergenerational child care: a venture into the future.

The story behind Friendship Center at Schooley's Mountain 

In 1995, the White House Conference on Aging included intergenerational topics in the core of discussions and considerations for sculpting future United States policy as it relates to the aging of America. A growing section of the intergeneration arena, and one that retirement communities and senior centers are focusing on, is its intergenerational child care.

Intergenerational child care centers help to promote social and emotional bonds between our very youngest and oldest populations. With an estimated population of 37 million seniors beyond the age of 65, and a likely doubling of that population in the next 20 years, it is easy to see why such programs will grow in importance for both generations.

We have explored the evolution and development of such a program with the Friendship Center at Schooley's Mountain, an intergenerational child care center located on the Heath Village Retirement Community campus. What we learned may guide other facilities taking similar paths to the future.

Evolution

Factors that indeed had little to do with intergenerational programming provided the impetus for the development of the Friendship Center at Schooley's Mountain - specifically, a severe shortage of registered nurses and licensed practical nurses in northern New Jersey in the late 1980s. But first some background.

Heath Village is a non-profit, Christian-oriented retirement community located in the far northwest corner of Morris County. The Village includes 250 apartments, a 40-room residential health care center and a 90-bed nursing facility. More than 400 residents, ranging in age from 70 to 105, occupy nearly 50 acres of the 100-acre campus.

Many of the Heath Village residents are socially active and volunteer in many capacities in and around the greater community.

Village residents tutor students in elementary and middle schools located in the nearby towns of Long Valley and Hackettstown. Some residents volunteer at the local hospital, while others are active in the projects of local churches. The spirit of giving back to society characterizes the majority of Heath Village residents.

Based on the volunteer participation levels of residents, both at the Village and in the surrounding community, it appeared the prospects for successful volunteerism at the Friendship Center were great. Perhaps the fact that a good percentage of residents come from teaching backgrounds assured a good potential for participation in an intergenerational child care center.

The growing shortage of nursing personnel and the dawn of nursing agencies had effectively tripled the cost of registered nursing services to Heath's licensed nursing facilities. The idea of having child care available as a benefit to employees, especially professional nurses, seemed to make a great deal of sense.

We reviewed the standard child care facilities in New Jersey and found that most were more care-oriented and less focused on educational opportunities. Compared to this, the opportunity to bring retired men and women from Heath Village into the child care center to share their life experiences with the children was very appealing. Ultimately, what developed was beyond our most far reaching expectations.

Formulation 

In 1991 we formed The Friendship Center, Inc., a non-profit corporation existing for the purposes of operating an intergenerational child care center. Heath Village had purchased a one-acre property with a house adjacent to the Village property. The executive director prepared a feasibility study for transforming the house, which was in disrepair, into an intergenerational child care center. Board approval was received that April.

Many questions had to be resolved before the house was to be transformed into the Friendship Center at Schooley's Mountain, e.g.:

1. Should the venture be a department of Heath Village or a separate corporation?

2. Was the house a viable location, or should the child care center be located within the main structure of the retirement community?

3. For profit or not-for-profit?

4. Governing body?

5. Insurance issues?

Some of these generated major discussion, e.g.:

Where to locate the child care center: Based on field visits to other retirement communities that offered child care, it seemed apparent that if the operation exclusively served children of employees, then it made sense to find room in a central area of the retirement community. However, our desire to open the child care center to the entire geographic area led to the selection of the house and property mentioned above. Its close proximity to a state highway, combined with its nearness to our resident population, seemed to make it ideal.

The focus of the Friendship Center would differ from the typical intergenerational child care program, as we would approach the curriculum and operation from the point of view of the children. Though children visiting nursing home patients would be folded into the child's experience, it would be a very small part of the overall programming; great emphasis was placed on having independent residents volunteering to lead the children's learning experiences.

Decision: The house it would be.

For profit or not-for-profit corporation?

The decision to incorporate as a nonprofit Federal 501(c)3 and New Jersey State Title 15 Corporation was easy because of:

A. Anticipated generation of goodwill by the intergenerational concept for fundraising purposes.

B. A need for capital funding to upgrade the property for child care center use.

The original board would include five members, two of whom would have strong ties to Heath Village: the executive director of Heath Village and one Heath Village trustee were among the first three board members. The president of Friendship Center, Inc. was elected at the first official Friendship Center, Inc. board meeting.

The two other trustee positions were filled by a local attorney and the general manager of a large foundation (legal and fundraising expertise is important in start-up).

Over time, the board expanded to seven members, adding two Heath Village resident volunteers.

Making a Dream a Reality

Now that the major organizational decisions had been made, the capital improvements, operational plans, budgeting, marketing and curriculum development needed to take shape.

Capital Improvements

The house needed an enormous amount of remodeling and infrastructure repair.

First, the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Youth Services (which is responsible for licensing child care centers) was called in for a courtesy inspection. Next, a local architect and site engineer were hired to prepare the necessary site drawings and building plans in order that Heath Village receive the necessary use variance and site approvals. These approvals required a presentation at the local Township Zoning Board. Also, a child care administrator was hired, and that individual consulted with the architect for functional room needs and space requirements. The entire approval process took nearly three months from the point of submittal.

Of course, various codes had to be adhered to as well, including:

* Building Safety Code

* Fire Codes

* Traffic Codes

* Special Child Care Codes

Following the completion of construction drawings and all approvals, interior renovation and site work began. This took three months. Cost: approximately $100,000.

Functioning and Operation

Based on the licensing standards for child care in the state of New Jersey, the Friendship Center could care for 34 children at one time. Age groups 2-1/2 to 5 years of age were targeted, and rooms were chosen within the school for 2-1/2 to 3-year-olds, 3 to 3-1/2-year-olds, 3-1/2 to 4-year-olds, and 4 to 5-year-olds.

The staffing pattern (or ratio of students to staff) increases as the children age. Consideration of full-time versus part-time hours and appropriate scheduling adjustments was next. The board and the director concluded that in the first year the Center would need to be extremely flexible with regard to accepting full- and part-time children, and "user-friendly" with regard to arrangements for the dropping off and picking up of children.

Curriculum

Many of the intergenerational programs we studied seemed to favor the idea of having children attend and participate in activities geared for nursing home-level residents. However, the Board of the Friendship Center made a conscious decision to recruit elderly residents who would stimulate the children through various experiences. We would include:

* Language study (French and Spanish)

* Science experiments

* Nature walks

* Bible study 

* Cooking classes

* Art classes

* Piano/Sing-alongs

* Computer skills

Recruitment of Volunteers

Proponents of the intergenerational concept are often overly optimistic about the level of senior participation. It is not unusual for the number of volunteers to be relatively small, for a variety of reasons.

A significant number of seniors, especially those of advanced age, are simply not physically capable of the level of activity that one-on-one interaction with small children requires. The dynamics of the senior environment are such that even those who initially have the required vigor will eventually reduce their level of participation, making a steady flow of replacement volunteers essential.

Younger seniors, especially those used to a more active lifestyle, are already involved in a number of activities and are not inclined to assume additional ones.

Those seniors who see their own children or grandchildren on a regular basis may feel less of a need to participate in child care activities.

Other seniors are apprehensive about involvement with children, either because they are concerned about contagious diseases (a genuine concern), or because they are not certain about what to do, i.e., what sorts of things are expected of them. This may be especially true of men, who often are more comfortable with an organized activity such as assembling toys.

Logistics can also be a problem. Many seniors are reluctant to commit themselves to a regular schedule that involves travel (especially in bad weather). In fact, after a lifetime of work and responsibility, it is understandable that some would rather not be locked into something that requires them to be somewhere at a stated time every week.

Finally, there are those who, though able, simply do not desire to get involved. This may be because they do not enjoy the company of children (and perhaps never did), or because they feel that they have done their share of child-rearing and have no interest in doing more, or, in some cases, because they do not approve of day care and feel that raising a child is a parent's responsibility.

There are a number of approaches for overcoming at least some of these obstacles:

* Volunteering should be convenient! This means that transportation should be available as often as needed. For those who are incapacitated, special times should be set aside for the children to visit them in the nursing center environment, and those hours should be flexible. This may mean scheduling activities week to week, with the understanding that volunteers may be allowed to skip when they are not up to it.

* There should be more than one way to participate. Some seniors may wish to be invited only on special occasions, such as a Christmas party or a nature walk. Others might be invited to participate in special projects, such as a men's club project to assemble a slide or toys. Drop-in hours with coffee and refreshments might encourage those who like to be around children, and who enjoy talking to them, but who are not interested in participating in a special activity. Then there are those who feel more comfortable having a specific task, such as reading to children during story hour, playing the piano for song time, etc.

* For those seniors who are already committed to one or more activities, try to combine those activities with child care. The book club might make the selection of children's books, and sharing them with the children, a regular feature of its calendar. Cooking groups could be invited to spend a morning in the day care center's kitchen. The garden club could "adopt" a plot on the day care center's grounds and tend to it while the children are present.

* Volunteers can be organized into a club of their own, with separate social events. Recruiting new club members, who would also become volunteers, then becomes the responsibility of this group.

* Seniors should be invited to the day care center for regular social events. Orientations for new residents, as well as coffee hours and special events (e.g., a Christmas pageant), will help familiarize them with the center's operation and inform them of volunteering opportunities that might interest them.

* Volunteer activities should be well-publicized. Bulletin boards, newsletters and the retirement community's newspaper are good vehicles for keeping intergenerational activities in the news and stimulating interest.

* Where significant numbers of volunteers are desired to fill a wide range of volunteer slots, a senior volunteer coordinator might be a good idea. This person would be responsible for planning activities, scheduling and recruiting new and replacement volunteers.

* Finally, some centers do not rely on volunteers, instead making use of paid senior aides. There are several government programs that provide training and financing for seniors in day care.

Program Diversity

The Friendship Center at Schooley's Mountain has 47 children who experience the warmth and love of seniors from 70 to 90 years old. The children, ranging in age from 2-1/2 to 6 years, benefit immensely from their exposure to the very oldest generation.

Seniors at Heath Village offer a potpourri of programs and classes to the Friendship Center children on a regular basis. French class for pre-kindergartners, woodshop class on a weekly basis, and the very popular nature trail program are examples. Some Villagers visit the children at play time and push the little ones on the playground swings, while others teach baking classes, flower arranging and piano music classes. The children learn to accept the sight of medical equipment, such as wheelchairs and oxygen tanks, while visiting the Nursing Center. Classes of children join in programming activities, such as finger painting, with the nursing center residents. In truth, the children begin to see beyond what many in society are frightened to view at all.

Evidence of the creativity of the children and the involvement of the Village residents is everywhere. The Village Men's Club gave a very special gift to the children in 1994 - namely a hand-crafted, 24[feet] x 16[feet] pirate ship christened "The Friend Ship."

In 1995, the same group of men worked nine months on the newest playground addition - the Heathosaur, a life-sized (16[feet] x 4[feet]) wooden dinosaur.

The key element in both projects was the camaraderie that developed among the men as they successfully built the oversized toys. What's more, these men captured the children's imagination, and the woodshop class has moved to the forefront of popularity with our preschoolers.

Impact on Workforce

The enrollment of Heath Village employees' children in the Friendship Center has been surprisingly lower as a percentage than originally anticipated. Participation levels peaked at nearly 30% of total enrollment, even with a discounted fee structure. Nursing personnel account for the largest part of the participation, and we continue to expect greater numbers in the future.

As those who have used it will attest, the availability of child care at Heath Village has been a positive benefit and will continue as such in the future.

Further Benefits

Unknown to us at the start of our intergenerational experiment was the profound impact the Friendship Center concept would have-on the middle generation - namely the parents of the Center's children. In three years of operation, the exposure that this "sandwich generation" (and younger parents too!) has had to the residents and the facilities at Heath Village has been enlightening to them. Many have become aware of the retirement community living style and no longer label senior housing as a "nursing home." Still others have remarked at how their children now seem to feel comfortable around grandparents and great-grandparents while at social and family reunions, a decided change brought about by the Friendship Center experience.

Summary

Intergenerational child care will benefit your organization by offering a whole new avenue of programs for your residents, along with opportunities for them to share their enormous reservoir of knowledge and talent with children.

Intergenerational child care operates on the idea that the first and last of the "ages of Man" should not be isolated from one another. Friendship Center children have helped the elderly residents of Heath Village to feel younger and more useful. The resident volunteers continue to help the children to develop socially and academically.

Both groups find their lives enriched.

Patrick E. Brady is the Executive Director of Heath Village Retirement Community and President of the Board of Trustees of the Friendship Center at Schooley's Mountain. He is a national speaker on intergenerational child care and is committed to providing assistance to other start-up projects, especially in a retirement community setting. Phone: [phone]