Because the education and experience of child care providers directly affects the quality of a child care program, the Department of Children’s Services offers a variety of professional development and support services to our provider community as well as links to other community resources.
Children’s Services Monthly Training Calendar
The Department’s Training Calendar offers a wide range of workshops in child development, curriculum planning, developmentally appropriate practices, administrative procedure, health and safety and inclusion. (click here for our January training calendar)
Quarterly Provider Meetings
Join us for program updates, professional development and an opportunity to engage with child care professionals in Camden County.
CCDBG Required Trainings
NJ First Steps
NJ First Steps is an Infant/Toddler Initiative created to assist early childhood educators in offering the very best possible care for New Jersey’s youngest citizens. First Steps has two prominent goals: to improve the quality of infant/toddler early-care across the state, as well as to increase the availability of quality early-care programs for families with infants and toddlers. Programs can enroll in NJ First Steps and receive an Infant/Toddler Specialist who will provide onsite technical assistance, coaching, mentoring and training to the teaching staff caring for infants and toddlers.
The South Region Technical Assistance Center’s First Steps is the lead professional development provider for professionals caring for infants and toddlers in licensed child care centers and Family Child Care providers. These trainings are offered throughout the seven counties at various locations and times to meet the needs of our providers. They also provide regularly scheduled webinars to support those professionals who cannot always make it out to training sites. click here for the NJ First Steps 2019 January-March Calendar
Child Care Conference
Our Annual Child Care Conference is our largest professional development event and draws over 200 participants. We welcome all child care providers, parents, and community members for a full day of interaction and learning. A variety of workshops are offered that address child development, health and safety, developmentally appropriate practices, administrative procedures and many other current topics of interest.
2019 Conference Save the Date – Building Our Protective Factors