Gov. Doug Ducey announces expansion of state employee childcare program
Jan 24, 2017, 7:08 AM
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced Monday that a childcare program for state employees has been expanded to the state’s second-largest agency, the Department of Economic Services.
The Infant at Work program allows Arizona employees to bring their newborn children to work for the first six months.
Ducey announced in his State of the State Address that the program would be expanded to other state agencies after seeing positive results from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, said the program began in 2001 to allow mothers who wanted to continue breastfeeding to bring their babies to work.
The program soon expanded to all moms, dads, foster parents and other guardians.
Christ said the reason the program is limited to six months is because “they start crawling, they start getting a little noisier and they start needing more independence.”
In addition to helping the mother, Christ said the program also brings a “morale lift” to other employees in the office.
“There is a huge morale lift when a baby is around,” she said. “People are very positive, it creates stronger relationships that just being co-worker.”
