For many parents who work, a sick child means missing work. But starting today, University employees will have another option.

In a program that begins today, eligible employees can contact Family Services Homecare to provide child care. For a discounted cost, the certified caregivers will come to the sick child’s home and watch them while their parents are working.

“We’re not just babysitters,” said Joy Rathe, director of the home care division of Family Services. “We were selected because of our quality of service.”

The caregivers interact with the children, helping them with homework and entertaining them. Rathe said all child-care providers have received specialized training in childhood development and basic child care through Family Services.

The program, Sniffles and Sneezes, is part of the Success by 6 initiative, which provides help for local families and their children. The programs are sponsored by the United Way and other Champaign-area organizations, businesses and the University.

“It is a diverse group cooperating with United Way looking to provide support for family and life issues,” said Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey, associate director of academic human resources. “Child care is one of them.”

Although an absent University employee can disrupt work in many offices, O’Shaughnessey said this is not why the program was implemented.

“I’m a parent,” she said. “It provides me an opportunity to be at a meeting knowing that my child is being taken care of.”

In order to be eligible for the child-care service, employees must be Champaign County residents who have been working more than part-time for the past nine months and are eligible for the State University Retirement System.

The full cost of the program for eligible employees is $25 per hour for one to two children. However, the University will subsidize 90 percent of the cost for the first twenty-four hours. Employees will be billed for the other 10 percent, or $2.50 per hour.

Family Services also acts as a “back-up situation” for employees who have a regular day-care service, Rathe said. If a child is too sick to go to day care or the usual caregiver is sick, Family Services can help.

“We’re excited,” Rathe said. “United Way and the University had the foresight to see the need.”

Before parents can receive the services, they must pre-register for the services at the Family Services’ Web site, familyservicehomecare.org.