Dr. Hadassah Ratna Rajaratnam, Ph.D.
Founder, Myrtle Tree Consulting
Director, Immanuel Christian Child Development Center
Dr. Rajaratnam is an award winning early childhood development expert and educator with a masters in nutrition and a doctorate in early childhood education from Osmania University (India).
Dr. Rajaratnam has worked in early childhood and academia for over 30 years. She is currently the director of Immanuel Christian Child Development Center in Southern California and founder of Myrtle Tree Consulting. Additionally, Dr. Rajaratnam has served as adjunct professor at Biola University and Vanguard University of Southern California.
Dr. Rajaratnam founded the Immanuel Christian Child Development Center (ICCDC) as a ministry of Immanuel Baptist Church in 2003 after recognizing the need for quality, faith based child care in the Ridgecrest community. With unwavering faith, support from founding members of the church, and a community in need, Dr. Rajaratnam embarked on her entrepreneurial journey, fueled by a desire to create a space that reflected the unique developmental needs of children.
Dr. Rajaratnam worked to create a licensed child development center and the center is licensed by the California Department of Social Services, as well as a national accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). In 2011, less than ten years since its founding, ICCDC became a NAEYC-accredited early learning program indicating exceptionally well equipped and meticulously measured for indicators of quality in the classroom and beyond. It is the first and only school in Kern County to have this designation! The benefits of this accreditation extend to center staff as well by ensuring all aspects of their work environment meet NAEYC's research-based program standards and criteria. Staff have a direct hand in establishing their professional environment and contributing to its success.
“Ridgecrest Regional Hospital would like to extend our sincerest thanks and appreciation to the Immanuel Christian Child Development Center (ICCDC) and their Director Dr. Hadassah Ratna Rajaratnam for offering their daycare facilities, free of cost to RRH employees, in our hour of need.
With ICCDC closed to families for normal daycare services for 2 weeks, under directives of the state, the staff at ICCDC have worked with RRH to ensure appropriate levels of care are provided to those employees who have no other childcare options and are part of the critical hospital infrastructure.”
What Others are Saying
“While the church wanted to [start a child development center], none of us knew what to do,” Porter said. “If you don’t know what to do, you find a leader and let them take over, so the church was very fortunate in finding Ratna to start the program.”