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Teen parents gain freedom to learn Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Twins David and Hannah Teague, 18 months, have no trouble entertaining themselves at the Crossroads child care center Monday. The center provides day care for kids of teen parents attending alternative school. It is a cooperative arrangement with the Rogue Valley Family YMCA. Crossroads launches free child care program at its Medford alternative school By Jonel Aleccia Four-month-old River Tompkins is the first crest of a baby wave at Crossroads school in Medford. By spring, the blue-eyed boy is expected to be joined by seven more infants, all born to teen students at the regional alternative school. But for the first time, River�s mother and the other student-parents won�t have to worry about finding child care. Thanks to private and state grants and a cooperative arrangement with the Rogue Valley Family YMCA, safe, free day care is available mere steps from the students� classrooms. Things you could donate to the center Crossroads� new day care center has been created and furnished through a mix of state grants, private gifts and imaginative staffing. While funds exist to keep it running, the center could use donations of several key items: Diapers. Baby wipes. Disposable gloves. Jars of baby food. A TV/VCR to show educational films. A hand-held rechargeable carpet cleaner. A Disney-themed wallpaper border. For more information, contact Crossroads at 770-1270. "I feel fine because I�ve talked to Jennifer and I know I can trust her with my child," said Melissa Tompkins, 18, a former Crater High School student. That would be Jennifer Rettmann, 29, the teen parent care manager who coordinates the program that offers school-day care to children ages 6 weeks to 30 months. Two workers trained by the YMCA and paid by Crossroads will supervise up to eight children at a time in the cozy center at the Earhart Street school. The program is open to alternative students from the four districts with whom Crossroads contracts, including Ashland, Rogue River, Central Point and Phoenix-Talent. Students in the Medford school district have had access to on-campus day care for years. A former teen mom herself, Rettmann understands firsthand the struggles that parents such as Tompkins face. "The biggest fear is messing up with your kid," said Rettmann, 29, whose oldest daughter is now nearly 13. Staying in school is one of the best ways young parents can keep from damaging their children, said Bob Rowland, Crossroads principal. "For a lot of our teen parents, child care was their biggest obstacle to enrolling in school," Rowland said. In Tompkins� case, having convenient child care may mean that she completes high school graduation requirements by June, only a year after she would have graduated. "It will really help," she said. The 16 teen parents enrolled at the school that serves 200 students will receive child care for free, said Kathy Peterson, fiscal director for the child-care program. That�s partly because costs are subsidized by state Adult and Family Services and partly because they�re paid through a $6,000 state employment department grant. Additionally, a $17,500 grant from the Carpenter Foundation of Medford helped renovate the site, adding a health center and the child care center, complete with a toddler-sized toilet. Donations of high chairs, changing tables and toys were a help; so was a grant that paid for $3,500 of foam interlocking bricks that pave a new outdoor play area. And when the YMCA agreed to provide trained staff, the arrangement was complete. Cynthia Lallo, child care director at the YMCA, was a former Community Works employee who saw the project as a natural extension of the mission of both agencies. Rowland agreed. "We couldn�t be happier with our collaboration with the YMCA," said Rowland, who shifted staff costs to come up with about $2,500 a month to pay for child care workers. When the wave of expected babies arrives this spring, Crossroads will be ready to receive them. "We�re on a roll," Rowland said. Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.