Enhanced childcare options coming soon

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Grovert Fuentes-Contreras
  • 435th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  As the Kaiserslautern Military Community continues to grow, the amount of space at the child development centers has decreased. To help accommodate the increased demand, a new CDC is being constructed to ensure all military personnel with children have a place for their youngsters while executing the mission.

"We currently have 234 children enrolled in the CDC," said Dorothy Choate, chief of the 435th Service Squadron Family Members Program Flight. "The additional CDC annex will be a much needed relief to counter the lack of space we're currently working with."

There are about 113 children waiting to be enrolled at the new center as it rapidly advances through the stages of construction.

With an average waiting time of zero-to-six months at the second-priority level, single parent, dual military and dual Department of Defense civilians can move faster depending on the season, a child's age and the location requested, said Ms. Choate.

The new CDC is a tremendous asset to the KMC, according to Jana Keller, 435th Services Squadron. The new building will include increased child care slots as well as an additional eight classrooms for children.

Each CDC in the KMC is referred to as a purple facility. The label allows all military personnel to sign their children up to attend the center no matter which branch of service they are in. While this is a benefit to servicemembers, it has also created an issue with the amount of slots for children at the centers.

In 2005, the Air Force conducted a study showing the number of children outweighed the infrastructure of the current CDC. Shortly after this survey, the Office of the Secretary of Defense informed each branch of service that they want to enhance child care and granted Ramstein $5.1 million to begin construction on a new child care facility in August 2008.

With the new CDC under construction, parents are excited for one more option for child care.

"The CDC helps me a lot with my job because they are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and I work 12-hour shifts," said Staff Sgt. Billy Gamble, 435th Vehicle Readiness Squadron. "It helps me along with other servicemembers during exercises. This new CDC will also add more openings for parents."

The CDC is scheduled to be completed January 2010.