Kids Cove to open
Center provides ‘piece of mind’ drop-in childcare
“We have a block party we’re going to do (from) 2 to 4 p.m., Saturday, July 15,” Eboni said. “It’s the playoff of an actual block party with a Lego theme for the kids and parents to look around as well.”
“I’m super excited, not only about the concept, but we have an excellent team,” Frank said.
After their 5-year-old, Kingston, was born, “… we had no family in the Knoxville community, so we quickly learned that it takes a village to raise a child,” Eboni said.
While traveling, they were introduced to a “drop-in” service and “it completely blew our minds,” she said. “It was something we had never heard of at that point.
“We could actually drop our child off while we were doing errands or just to have piece of mind for a little bit,” she added. “We found it super helpful for us, and it was something we knew we had to bring to the Knoxville community.”
Unlike a traditional daycare service, Frank explained. “We’re not tied to the (Knox) County School System. That provides us with flexibility in terms of our hourly offerings.
“We will be staying open past your standard 6:30 p.m. time period,” he added. “We’re also going to be open on the weekend as well.”
“Essentially, it’s an opportunity where you can drop your child off on an hourly basis instead of having to have a monthly or annual attendance commitment like you would see in a daycare setting,” Eboni said.
“The families would also pay their annual registration,” she added. “Once they do that, any time, any day within the operating hours, they’re free to stop by and drop their kids off. It’s really that easy.
”We try to be innovative in our approach to child care, so not only do we have the drop-in center here, but we also offer an additional service, which is basically a concierge … pop-ins,” Frank said, explaining a staff member can go to the parent’s home to “babysit” their children for a time period.
“We have a team of dedicated staff (of eight) that’s constantly growing at this rate,” Eboni said. “We can meet the demands of the parents.”
Eboni said staff members already have had background checks, are CPR-certified and have had first-aid training “so families can feel safe their children will be in a safe environment.”
Additionally, there are security cameras on site. “We do more than what you would find with just a traditional babysitter,” Frank said.
Contrary to a daycare, director Brittany Charnley said there is a limit for how many hours in the day and how many hours in the week a child can stay. “For a day, they can only stay seven hours,” she said. “For the week, it can only be up to 20 hours. That’s not what we decided. It’s based on state regulations for a drop-in center for child care.”
The center is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday; from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday; and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
For more information, parents can walk into the center, visit on line at http://kidscoveknoxville.com/kidscoveknoxville.com or call 865-507-1287.
