About the New Jersey Inclusive Child Care Project

The Map to Inclusive Child Care Training & TA Project is a project spearheaded by SPAN (Statewide Parent Advocacy Network) and funded by the New Jersey Department of Human Services. The goals of this project are:

- Increase the quality of early care and education for children with special needs.
- Increase the number of childcare providers that offer inclusive child care.
- Increase awareness among families, childcare providers, and resource and referral counselors of the Unified Child Care Agencies of the services available for children with special needs.
- Improve the delivery of services to children with special needs through collaboration among the providers of childcare services and special needs services.

The NJ Inclusive Child Care Project provides:
- Free information (in English and Spanish) about laws affecting inclusion and child care (early childhood and after-school programs).
- Free information about available services and resources in New Jersey for children with special needs.
- Free workshops (in English and Spanish) on inclusion awareness as well as 'how to' workshops for parents and service providers conducted by nationally acclaimed early childhood experts.
- Free telephone technical assistance regarding early childhood and after school inclusion using our toll-free hotline and/or the Resource and Referral staff of the county-based Unified Child Care Agencies (see list)
- Free on-site technical assistance and support to child care providers and after school programs on including children with special needs.