Responding to Linda's comment previously: (see below)

When I ran a refugee women's English group a few years ago, we were able to
get around some of the red tape by having the English class in a large room,
and we made our "lessons" on one side of the room while babies/toddlers
played with volunteers I'd recruited on the other side of the room.  You
have to be comfortable with a certain amount of chaos and noise, but on the
other hand we didn't have the separation issues from toddlers either, since
they could see go to mom if needed. And after a couple of weeks, the kids
didn't come visiting the moms as much, and it worked pretty well.  We had
"parent and child time" as well, and spent a lot of time with children's
books...

Patsy Vinogradov



>From Linda Selover:

Still, I think that the "moms" are under served largely because we have
no childcare for children under 3 or 4 years of age. I get moms in my
class, then they suddenly drop out when they have a new baby, not to
return until the new child reaches daycare/preschool age.  I am trying
to set up a class for "Moms w/ babes in arms" but then I get fed the
"insurance/liability" issues/ arguments.

We aren't covered to have younger children on campus, so I proposed that
we have a class at the elementary school for moms and babes, and because
w/ have no money for childcare, I suggested that we have them in the
same room, w/ moms caring for their own children.

I figured that I can teach moms how to read to their children if the
child is in their arms. After all, in many countries, moms carry their
babies all day long while they work, so why not while they learn.

Still, it is an uphill battle w/ bureaucracy.