The National Association for Family Child Care has awarded the country’s top honor for high-quality family childcare programs to Amy Loyd, operator of Smarty Britches Home Daycare/Early Head Start in Cullman. NAFCC accreditation is a rigorous quality improvement system that uses a set of standards to recognize high-quality childcare programs operating in the residence of the childcare professional. In Alabama, almost 11 percent of licensed family childcare programs have achieved this recognition; considerably higher than the 2 percent nationwide average.

Loyd, who has been a childcare educator for 18 years and been in education for 24 years, said her reaccreditation makes Smarty Britches the only nationally accredited home daycare in Cullman County.

“I love the family aspect of home daycare. The children and families that I serve are my family,” she said.

To earn NAFCC accreditation, Loyd went through an extensive self-study, training and quality improvement process with the support of her mentor, Melinda Carlson, from the Family Child Care Partnerships — Accreditation Facilitation Program, or FCCP-AFP, administered by Auburn University. FCCP-AFP is a statewide quality enhancement, accreditation facilitation program funded through a contract with the Alabama State Department of Human Resources. It delivers mentoring, training, technical assistance and financial support to licensed family child care providers in Alabama seeking to attain national accreditation.

“NAFCC accreditation is recognition of a family childcare providers’ commitment to quality caregiving and continuous quality improvement,” said Caroline Martin, managing director of FCCP-AFP.