New director plans healthy growth for Housatonic Child Care

SALISBURY — She’s a new face at Housatonic Child Care Center, but she’s certainly not new to the game. Kathleen “Kate� Dziedzic, who took over the child-care center July 1, has more than 20 years of child-care experience.

“I’ve had home day cares since I started having children, and my oldest is 30,� she said. “It was a way that I could contribute to the household while I was still with my children. Through that I learned that this was my calling: to work with families and work with children.�

Dziedzic comes to Housatonic from the YMCA in Torrington, where she had been the youth program coordinator and a head teacher since 2005. She was also the director of Camp Torymca.

“I worked at the Y with people from a huge range of socio-economic and language backgrounds,� she said. “I am an advocate of children and families.�

Dziedzic said she has done advocacy through the Susan B. Anthony Project in Torrington, which works with battered women and their families, and through the United Way. She has also worked with parents to help them through difficult transitions.

“Sometimes you just need to reassure parents that what their child is going through is developmentally appropriate,� she said. “Parents are the first teachers. By supporting parents, you are better able to serve the whole family.�

At Housatonic, Dziedzic is responsible for overseeing the child-care center’s three programs: infant, toddler and preschool.

“I am part of every program — I schedule myself into the toddler, infant, preschool programs,� she said. “I want to know all of these children. To get to where I want to go with the center, I need to be on their level.�

Her plans for the center include a lot more of what’s made the center a success. She wants to continue and expand the center’s collaborations with Salisbury Family Services, Town Hall, Noble Horizons and the Region One School District. She also wants to foster what she sees as an amazing relationship between the community and the center.

“This is a community that donates time or money or toys,� she said, citing an older gentleman who showed up at the center with a truck full of toys and a donation of wood chips from Salisbury Garden Center.

“I want the community to see and interact with the kids. I want them to think of this center as professional and to really be proud of us.�

But more than anything, Dziedzic said it’s about the children and their families.

“You’re not just registering a child. You’re registering a family that is trusting you to care and be an advocate for their child,� she said. “I fall in love with each and every one of these kids. I love my job. It’s so easy to be proud because you know your work is purposeful.�