Editor’s Note: The Standard-Speaker is profiling leaders in the Hispanic community in our series Voices of Hazleton: Bridging cultures, building community. Today, we profile Ivalisse Eufracio-Childs, who owns Little All Stars Care Center in West Hazleton.
Every year, the Hazleton Area School District accepts hundreds of new students into its kindergarten program, where they learn basic grammar, math and social skills. Child psychologists generally agree that the first 2,000 days of a child’s life are the most important for their development, which leads many families to seek preschool services to help their children get ahead.
Ivalisse Eufracio-Childs’ Little All Stars Care Center on 30 E Broad St. in West Hazleton is one such service.
“I started Little All Stars because I’d heard from several families in the past that they struggled with finding bilingual childcare in Hazleton, which made me realize that I could fill that need for them,” Eufracio-Childs said. “It’s my firm intention to help keep families together through day and night childcare, freeing parents to take the shifts they need to provide for their children.”
Ivalisse Eufracio-Childs of Little All Stars Care Center at 30-32 West Broad Street in West Hazleton on Wednesday July 29, 2026.(John Haeger / Staff Photographer)
Eufracio-Childs grew up in Santiago, Dominican Republic, before permanently immigrating to the United States with her two children in 2004.
She lived in New York for eight years, working as an assistant kindergarten and first-grade teacher, where she developed the childcare skills she’d later use at Little All Stars.
In 2012, she visited family members already living in Hazleton, which inspired her to move here.
“Living in New York, I started to miss having nature all around me. Coming here, seeing the beautiful environment and the wonderful community, I knew that I wanted to make a home here,” she said.
After moving, Eufracio-Childs tried to continue teaching as a paraprofessional, but found the pay and benefits weren’t enough to provide for herself and her children, so she left to work at an Amazon warehouse.
She worked different jobs such as a bank teller, loan servicer and an office secretary before opening Little All Stars in 2023
During that time, though, she never stopped working for the community.
Ivalisse Eufracio-Childs of Little All Stars Care Center at 30-32 West Broad Street in West Hazleton works with Elijah Lopez and Aaryen Peguero on counting and math on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.(John Haeger / Staff Photographer)
“I am a member of the PA Human Relations Commission, the PA Board Adviser, the Latinos Educando Juntos and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. I’ve run for school board three times, getting thousands of votes each time, and I’ve volunteered at several different community-based organizations since my arrival in Hazleton,” she said.
One of those runs for school board was with her husband, Robert Childs.
“I first met Ivalisse soon after she moved here, when I was her son’s pediatrician. Back then our relationship was just as doctor-parent, but years later she started working at my office as a secretary,” Childs said. “After she left the office due to the discrimination she faced there, she reached out to me for advice on working with children, and our relationship grew from there.”
Ivalisse Eufracio-Childs of Little All Stars Care Center at 30-32 West Broad Street in West Hazleton works with Elijah Lopez and Aaryen Peguero on counting and math on Wednesday July 29, 2026.(John Haeger / Staff Photographer)
When asked about his wife, Childs only has good things to say. He describes her as hardworking, a kind mother and the strongest person he has ever met.
“She inspired me to run for election to the school board, as a pair, but even though we ran on the same platform, only I won enough votes to be elected,” Childs said.
Currently, Eufracio-Childs remains dedicated to Little All Stars, but she says she’s already started looking beyond the business.
“When I first opened the center, I had five employees working for me to take care of 24 children. Now I only have two employees who are looking after 14, the maximum the state allows for two caretakers,” explained Eufracio. “The wages I can offer just can’t compete with the corporate businesses in town like Amazon. It takes a lot more of my time now, which I’d rather be spending with my kids and my grandkids.”
Still, Eufracio-Childs doesn’t worry for the families she helps through her service given that other bilingual daycares have opened after Little All Stars, such as Little Bear Child Care in West Hazleton and Bumblebee Preschool in Hazleton.
Moreover, she intends to continue serving the Hazleton Community even after she retires, planning new ways to spend her time.
“The people who know me usually describe me as a strong woman, but I don’t agree. I’ve had to be strong because of my life, but deep down I’ve always seen myself as a caring person, and I hope to continue caring for people even after I pass my daycare to another owner,” said Eufracio-Childs.
Read our previous story in this four-part series
Bridging the gap: How one volunteer’s dedication fules the Hazleton Integration Project
