Laboratory hosting community meetings this week on working families dependent care web page

Contact: Steve Sandoval, steves@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9206 (02-042)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 29, 2002 -- The National Nuclear Security Administration's Los Alamos National Laboratory is holding several public meetings this week to better inform the public about how to use the Laboratory's new Program for Working Families Dependent Care World Wide Web page.

The meetings are in Santa Fe, Española and Los Alamos. The meeting in Santa Fe is from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, at the Santa Fe Children's Museum, 1050 Old Pecos Trail.

The Española meeting is from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Wednesday (May 1) at the Johnson Controls Northern New Mexico Business Park Building, 1027 N. Railroad Ave. The Los Alamos meeting is from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Thursday (May 2) at Los Alamos' Community Relations Office, 1619 Central Ave.

The Program for Working Families Dependent Care Web site is designed for child care providers and coordinators of youth activities. Child care providers and youth event coordinators now can go online to tell parents and guardians about available child care services and events through this new World Wide Web site.

To access the Program for Working Families Dependent Care Web site, go to http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/dvo/dependent/ online. Child care providers can add their name to the Web site by calling 665-4113 or writing to child_care@lanl.gov by electronic mail, explained Jeannine Holland of Los Alamos' Human Resources Division. For security reasons, actual addresses of providers are not listed on the site.

To access the Kid Calendar, go to http://lanldb1.lanl.gov/lanl/kidscal.nsf/kidscal online. To add an event, go to http://lanldb1.lanl.gov/lanl/kidscal.nsf/kidscalprovid1 online. In both sites, users will be required to read and agree to a disclaimer. The Laboratory reserves the right to remove any information posted on the Web sites at anytime.

The Web site's purpose is to serve as an informational tool for parents of children, teenagers and seniors. While it offers a link to child care providers, it also offers information on other useful agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and local service agency telephone numbers, said Holland. It is hoped that at a later time, the site will grow to include providers, activities and services available for senior residents as well.

"Parents searching for child care, and providers who wish to enter their services must agree to the terms of conditions of use before being allowed to access the Working Families Web page," Holland said.

"It is important for parents to understand that both the Working Families Web site and the Kids Calendar are regarded as informational tools only," said Holland. "Although the Laboratory provides tips to help parents, it does not endorse or promote any of these services, events or providers. It is incumbent upon the parents to check out these services completely before committing their children or teenagers to any of them. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough," she added.

Once at the site, providers can complete a form that lists information such as their specialty area or areas of care, what availability by age group a provider has, if any, and which schools they are located near. Including availability information on the providers' Web pages was done at the request of local providers, said Holland.

"A unique thing about this Web site is that external providers can enter, update and maintain their own information," Holland said. "It gives them the freedom not to have to rely on us. Because the information is automatically dated, it also gives the viewer a sense of how current the information is."

"We are excited about offering these services and hope that providers and parents will make use of our Web sites," Holland said. "The site also will serve as an important recruiting tool for Los Alamos as we begin hiring new employees."

"We not only want current Laboratory employees and families, but also prospective employees and their families to become aware of what a family-oriented community Los Alamos really is."

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos enhances global security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, developing technical solutions to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and national security concerns..