The University's Family Care Resources Program runs the Kids Kare pilot program and attained the services of the home health agency Friends Who Care. This agency screens the program's workers and the University provides them with additional training on child development and pediatric illness. These two steps ensure University employees that they will be leaving their sick children with qualified caregivers. In addition, the program did a good job of establishing rapport with the employees by giving them a chance to meet the caregivers at an open meeting in the Michigan Union when the program began. The program is extremely beneficial to working parents but it does come with a price tag. The University pays for the first 16 hours of this service, but after those initial hours, the family must pay $14 per hour with a minimum usage of four hours.
While this program is relatively new, the demand for its service has long been present among University employees. But this demand does not stop with staff and faculty members. Even though the population of University students with children is relatively small, this group faces the same problem that staff do when their child becomes ill. Students, like employees, should not be forced into choosing between the care of their child or attending class - currently, most students have to make this difficult decision. Student child care at the University has been a poorly addressed issue in the past. With the new program, administrators have the opportunity to give such students greater flexibility when a confouding situation presents itself. This program should be expanded to give University students the same options University employees enjoy. This small portion of the student body would not put a significantly larger financial strain on the University's budget. The benefits of this service are hard to quantify, but they definitely outweigh the monetary costs.
In addition, this program could be beneficial to students and employees at the University's Flint and Dearborn campuses. Implementing similar programs at these satellite campuses would put a greater strain on those schools' budgets, it is a worthwhile expenditure.
Programs like Kids Kare could help students and employees tremendously, and it could foster a better relationship between its clients and the University. The program and the administration deserve commendation for their efforts but the program must be expanded to include other members of the community who need the same help.