Supporting Providers

Finders/Seekers supports child care providers by offering a variety of services including:

• Referring parents and guardians looking for child care to your programs
• Offering trainings on many topic ideas
• Lending out resources from our library
• Technical assistance including onsite visits
• Information on State licensing and regulation

For more information on (these will link to topics below)

Technical Assistance
First Aid and CPR
Training
Lending Library
Referral
Starting a Child Care Business
Improving Quality
Professional Development
Newsletter

Technical Assistance:

In order to support quality, inclusive early care and education, Finders/Seekers provides technical assistance upon request to individual early care and education programs including private and not for profit centers, Head Start, family child care and legal unlicensed child care. Providers may contact Finders/Seekers for technical assistance by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , by phone at 1-800-866-5588 or by walking into our office at 79 Main Street in Auburn. If you are a member of the Quality Rating System, you may access on-site technical assistance from Finders/Seekers' Education Specialist. Please send the form below to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to request on site technical assistance.

Technical Assistance Request Form

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First Aid/CPR:

Finders/Seekers provides assistance in helping child care providers pay for First Aid and CPR. We will reimburse up to $40 per a provider yearly toward CPR and First Aid as long as money is available.
Listing of First Aid and CPR instructors
First Aid and CPR scholarship Form

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Childcare Provider Training:

Finders/Seekers offers Maine Roads To Quality (MRTQ) Core Knowledge Training. The Maine Roads Core Knowledge Training Program offers a wide range of apporved training in the following core knowledge areas: healthy, safe environments, observation and assessment, child development, developmentally appropriate practice, guidance, relationships with families, individual and cultural diversity, and business and professional development. The approved Core Knowlegde Training assures a consistent body of knowledge in early care and education for new and experienced practitioners. The Core Knowledge Training can be used to obtain competency areas. Completion of 190 hours of Core Knowledge could be used to obtain college credit toward an Early Childhood degree.

Finders/Seekers also offers electives throughout the year. Topics are based upon request from the Training Needs Assessment mailed to providers in the spring every year. Electives are listed on Finders/Seekers' registration form with Maine Roads To Quality trainings.

Upcoming Trainings
Finders/Seekers Registration Form

Description of Maine Roads To Quality–
Please check HERE for MRTQ website

For information about other trainings in the State, please CLICK HERE

Lending Library:

Finders/Seekers has a lending library that is housed at Community Concepts' office located at 79 Main Street in Auburn. The library consists of reference books and videotapes, children's books, themed literacy bags and toys. Materials and Items are available for loan to parents, child care providers and the community at large.

Lending Library Listings
Library Lending Form – to request materials/items

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Referral:

Finders/Seekers refers child care centers, nursery schools, family child care providers, school age programs and Trust ME providers to parents and guardians looking for child care. We request that providers listed with us keep us informed of any changes that have occurred with their programs including vacancies. Finders/Seekers strives to give those individuals looking for child care the most accurate information about your program.

Vacancy update form

Child Care Provider update form

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Getting Started In Childcare :

Potential providers looking to start a business either in their home or in a separate facility need to contact Department of Health and Human Services at 287-5049 to receive a licensing packet.

Potential applicants should contact their town office or city hall regarding zoning regulations and possible fire codes. Please click below to see if we have your town or city's contact information.

Potential applicants will be required to take Getting Started in Family Child Care if their business will operate in their home. Applicants that want to open a facility outside of their home may take either Getting Started in Family Child Care or Foundation of Center Based Care.

Applicants needing help and valuable information to develop and grow their small business should contact the Maine Small Business Development Centers at www.mainesbdc.org or Coastal Enterprises Incorporated at www.ceimaine.org

Androscoggin County:

• Lewiston
• Lisbon
• Greene
• Durham

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Oxford County:

• Andover
  P. O. Box 219
  Stillman Road
  Andover, ME 04216
  Tel: (207) 392-3302
  
• Bethel
  
• Brownfield
  P. O. Box 100
  81 Main Street (Rte. 160)
  Brownfield, ME 04010
  Tel: (207) 935-2007
  
• Buckfield
  P. O. Box 179
  34 Turner Street (Rte. 117)
  Buckfield, ME 04220
  Tel: (207) 336-2521
  
• Byron
  486 Swift River Road
  Route 17
  Byron, ME 04275
  Tel: (207) 364-3194
  
• Canton
  P. O. Box 669
  Canton, ME 04221
  Tel: (207) 597-2920
  
• Dixfield
  
• Sumner
  
• Norway
  
• Paris/South Paris
  
• Rumford
  
• Mexico

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Franklin County:

• Wilton
  
• Farmington

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Improving Quality :

Maine's Quality Raiting System, Quality for ME, is a voluntary four step program designed to increase awareness of the basic standards of early child care and education, to recognize and support providers who are providing care above and beyond those standards and to educate families and community about what high quality is and why it is so important. Quality for ME has three goals:

- To recognize early care and education programs that provide quality care

- To encourage providers to increase their level of quality

- To provide parents with identifiable standards of quality

You can apply if you have been licenced for 1 year, are a registry member of Maine Roads To Quality and have no serious licensing violations within the last 12 months.

Maine Roads to Quality's Website is: http://www.muskie.usm.maine.edu/maineroads

To apply online or for further information:

http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs/ec/occhs/qualityforme.htm

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Professional Development:

Child Care providers interested in continuing down their professional development path have several choices Maine .

Child Development Associate (CDA) is a national credential issued from The Council For Professional Development. It requires 120 hours of document training, an observation, a resource file and competency statements. The application fee is $325 and limited scholarships are available at Maine Roads To Quality. Finders/Seekers' Education Specialist is available as a CDA Advisor and runs CDA support groups yearly.

http://muskie.usm.maine.edu/maineroads/pages/scholarship.html

If a child care provider chooses to pursue a degree in Early Childhood or related field, there are several options in the tri-county area.

The University of Southern Maine has a campus location in Lewiston and offers Bachelor Degree in Social and Behavioral Science, and a minor in Early Childhood Studies.

The University of Maine at Farmington offers a Bachelor in Early Childhood Education as well as a Bachelor in Early Childhood Special Education.

Andover College has a campus in Lewiston and offers an Associate Degree program in Early Childhood.

Central Maine Community College has its main campus in Auburn and a satellite office in South Paris and offers an Associate Degree program in Early Childhood.

University of Southern Maine www.usm.maine.edu/lac/

University of Maine at Farmington www.umf.maine.edu

Andover College www.andovercollege.edu

Central Community College http://www.maine.edu/wmucc/cmcc.html

Maine now offers a credential for Infant and Toddler care givers with three levels.

For level 1, care givers will have needed to complete the following trainings offered at Finders/Seekers; Caring for Infants, Toddlers and their families, Foundations in Health, Wellness and Safety, Supporting Maine's Infants and Toddlers: Guidelines for Learning and Development and Introduction to Infant Mental Health: Issues and Practice.

For more information on the trainings, please contact Finders/Seekers
at 1-800-866-5588
or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
For more information on Infant, Toddler Credential 2 & 3, please contact Karen White at 333-6450 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Newsletter:

Finders/Seekers produces a child care provider newsletter quarterly. Inside you will find upcoming trainings being offered by Finders/Seekers and other area agencies, recalls, business tips and other useful information. Click below to see the latest version of the newsletter.

Dec '07 - Feb. '08

March '08 - May '08

June '08 - August '08

March '09 - May '09

Sept '09 - Nov '09

Dec '09 - Feb '10

March '10 - May '10

May '10 - June '10

July '10 - August '10

"Protect Yourself From Ticks" Caution Sheet

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