Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Collins Kids of Sweet Home is the first and so far the only family childcare provider in the county to receive new certification by the state of Oregon, allowing an expanded number of children to be served.
“The Oregon Legislature changed, in January of this year, and allowed people that run certified family childcare” to serve up to 16 children, said Anita Collins, who runs the program. Previously, they had been allowed only 12 slots.”
Collins said she has become the first childcare business in Linn County certified for 16 children. Her program now includes 16 children Tuesday through Thursday each week, with a couple of slots open on Mondays and Fridays.
Collins has operated childcare in Sweet Home for the last 29 years. She has taught preschool three days a week for the last 15 years.
Filling her program “didn’t take long,” Collins said. “I had a waiting list.”
“I just had this one room when I started,” she said, gesturing toward one of the rooms in her Eighth Avenue childcare center. Later, she added another room and playground.
Running a childcare center requires at least 20 hours per year in training, Collins said. She received 69 hours of training last year through Linn-Benton Community College.
Before moving to Oregon in 1977, Collins had worked for the records department with the Simi Valley Police Department in southern California. When she and her husband moved from California, she needed a job.
“My husband is disabled. We had four children,” she said. “I love children. I feel like the Lord gave me and my husband a gift.”
Collins landed a job at Sweet Home Evangelical Church as a provider in the nursery, she said. That led eventually to her life’s work and, she said, more importantly, her Christianity.
When she applied at the church, a question on the application asked if she was a Christian, Collins said. She was married in a church twice, so she figured she was; but she had no religious background prior to that.
One day, the pastor asked if her husband could cover the nursery so she could attend the service, Collins said. He worked in the nursery, and she attended the service.
“I became a Christian that day,” Collins said.
Collins soon started a childcare center at her home on North 18th, off North River Drive. She said she ran that business 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
“And then I realized I didn’t want to do 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Collins said. She changed the business and became certified to operate a childcare facility. About eight years ago, she started teaching preschool.
Collins said she starts her day at 4:45 a.m. when the first child arrives. It ends at 6 p.m.
“And when you work with children, you’d better be smiling all day,” Collins said.
Last year, she had her first second-generation child.
“We’re like an extended family,” Collins said. “My parents get to know one another.”
The families, including grandparents, get together every year at Hawthorne School for a Thanksgiving play and program.
“I’m proud of (the new certification),” Collins said. It took extra paperwork and steps to obtain the certification, including things like fire safety preparation. “I also think it’s something nice to offer the community. I am constantly being called, and I have no openings.”
Childcare is scarce in Sweet Home, Collins said. The Sweet Home area has the big Little Promises center and Collins’ center, along with a center in Crawfordsville.