Life Haven Childcare Center is foundational for the success of our homeless families!

Inside of the Life Haven, Inc. shelter, you will find a licensed, NAEYC accredited childcare center. With one School Readiness Preschool and one Early Head Start infant/toddler class, our size is small, but the impact on the families we serve is great. The childcare was established to support the mothers that reside in the shelter. It allows them to leave their children in a safe, consistent and developmentally appropriate environment staffed by qualified early childhood teachers. These mothers then work to find employment, maintain employment, participate in job training, complete their GED, or pursue college. Knowing their children are being well-taken care of and prepared for their future entry to Kindergarten, allows for a bit of the stress from their circumstances to be alleviated. To further assist the mothers, when a family moves out of the shelter, we allow the child(ren) to remain in the childcare program (if they move to a New Haven residence).

For one family in particular, the mother was residing in the shelter and enrolled her child as a toddler, so as to pursue job training with CT Works. Once enrolled, the childcare staff began to have concerns about the child’s growth and development and discussed participation with Birth to Three. From there, the child received services four days a week right in the classroom and the mother’s job training was not interrupted. She completed the training and began employment immediately following—still without interruption as her child stayed in the childcare program. As the child began transitioning into our Preschool classroom, The Birth to Three services had been so successful that the child’s services ended completely when entering Preschool, without a referral! Though the family has since left the shelter to their own residence, they are still a part of our program and the child is heading to Kindergarten soon!