ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Are there any credential requirement for caregivers in Family Child Care settings. Knowledge and training in early childhood development is crucial for children to have a successful start to their education careers.

In thinking about trends, I first want to appreciate the comments from Kathleen of Acre FCC in MA. It seems that our true strengths and distinguishing characteristics are not be celebrated and embraced. For example, we are the primo the model for continuity of care. The profession could be asking US to inform the field in some important w ays.

Trends I'm wondering about:
1) Are more FCC providers employing staff? When I started, I was coming from a center-based model and the thought of working five 10-11 hours days was untenable to me, and especially now as I get older my provider assistant is so valuable, yet there's not much info out there for providers being successful employers.

2) Is there a trend toward structuing FCC programs within "systems"? The model in some European countries with a well-educated and well-resourced professional serving oversight for a "sattelite" of numerous programs holds much promise for us, in my opinion. Of course, it flies in the face of the autonomy that many in our field value highly.

I think an increasing trend in Family Child Care is the pressure to emulate a Center, instead of seeing family child care as a different model. Over the years child care centers have become more and more like schools and now family child care homes are becoming like mini-centers. Rather than emulating centers, I would love to see family child care promote the strengths that they offer children. Schools, Centers and Family Child Care Homes all offer children wonderful opportunities to learn in different environments. Whether one learns colors by sorting socks or manipulatives, the outcomes can be the same.

Re Trends in Family Child Care. During these difficult economic times, the concern is that families who are not working, obviously can't afford child care. Children are frequently left with aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings. There are no free or reduced programs in the counties we service, Head Start is alone in providing free services to families. I would think that a community would try to fill the void with some kind of cooperative program, that would provide free or reduced care for children in exchange for hours donated.

Hello , child friends
Childcare is very important to all the nations. There are
different kinds of childcare centers . various methods are used for the children . But all round development is only one aim .
contact email - nirmal.ghosh28@gmail

I have been a preschool teacher for around 30 years. When my first grandson was born I started my family child care. It was the best decision I ever made.
There are many choices in how you run your family child care.
When I first started I worked with children about 8 hours a day. I still have contact with many of those kids. Even the ones who have moved out of state.
I just got an email from a former family, the child won a writing contest.
Now I have a funded family preschool and work with children 4 hours per day.
I went from 6 families to 12, the parents work in the program and I am still very happy 17 years later. Oh and all 4 of my grandsons have been with me. Which is a true blessing

I have been a FCCP since 1972, when my first child was 1 year old. Of course at the time I was considered a babysitter. However, over the next 40 years I have seen my personal professionalism flourish. In 1994 I became licensed and due to regulations and requirements I improved my program tremendously. Education is the key. Where as in the beginning I was a loving caregiver, providing a safe and nurturing home environment for children, I became a person who sought out more educational play/learning activities and I enriched my environment. I am a member of a local FCCP group and I am on the Board with our County Affiliate of NAEYC. Family Child Care has gained much more respect as a profession over the years. I found that it is also how one views oneself that makes it so. My child care parents respect me and know that what I ask of them is not out of line.

I feel blessed that I "fell" into this profession. And yes, I have the privilege of having grandchildren in my care.

In response to Carole at Caterpillar Preschool,
Thank you for articulating the problem so well. FCC, which has the opportunity to provide secure, relationship-based care in an ideal learning environment, suffers under regulations that are not always supportive. Healthy brain development is primarily served when the child is in secure relationship to consistent primary caregivers. FCC, when allowed to operate out of the higher principles of child development with dedicated care providers, is one of the best places for children to learn life skills. The child care centers our organization helps to develop actually base their approach on the model of a home. The children are in small mixed-age groups with their primary caregivers, and "next door" is another similar group. They operate like a small village or neighborhood of caregivers. Our licensing agents typically find it refreshing and are grateful for the high quality of care the children are receiving. In centers and in FCC, we encourage care providers to engage licensing agents in understanding how and why they do what they do – for example, how doing laundry with the children provides sorting, color awareness, classifying and ordering skills out of real life; same for preparing food and setting the table and numerous other real life activities. We can also demonstrate how music, storytelling, puppetry, and reading to the children provide well-grounded pre-literacy skills, how nature play provides large motor development and primary science experiments, and how life skills of repairing things, sewing, and crafting useful things provide fine motor learning, measurement and other fundamental skills. We encourage providers in FCC and in centers to strengthen their advocacy skills through dialogue with the licensing agents and even through requesting exceptions to one or another regulation. When they can well-articulate how the learning requirement or safety intention behind a regulation is still being met through a more natural life-based approach, a rich dialogue begins and often results in the granting of the exception.
Also, I want to respond to the individuals struggling with parents’ not respecting their business practices. One of our FCC providers went through this recently and tightened up her contract, in particular making it clear that there would be fees associated with late payments and late pick-up times. She did it with warmth, but in a very matter-of-fact way. The parents, who respect her as an outstanding caregiver, did not leave her program; rather, they became more respectful in their business practices with her. The book Home Away From Home: LifeWays Care of Children and Families offers support to caregivers in FCC and in centers regarding business practices and in establishing a homelike setting and curriculum.
Thank you to Exchange for taking up burning issues for FCC.

We have created a FREE educational online program called KidVision VPK for the teachers of young children to use to get CEUs in the comfort of their homes and use the program to teach prekindergarten education standards to the children in their care in their home. The structure of the website is that teachers learn and earn CEUs and then use the program to teach standards to their students. The program uses an experience-based instructional strategy for learning and teaching. We take viewers, adults and children, on virtual field trips around the community, for example to the fire station and the neighborhood pool, and provide lesson plans and assessment forms with each field trip. Learning is fun and interesting at http://www.KidVisionVPK.org.

Te requirerments and regulations put such stress on us that it seems to affect the time we work with the children and takes away the meaning that we are here.Extra funding would help with the the stress,or possible an extra child in our home daycare, which it seems that every possible person but us thinks we cant handle..but all the goverment agencys that rotates through our door theres no way each one knows what the other is requireing us to do.There has to be a person that can possible come in two times a year and look at the regulations and monitor us.

I am an early childhood family educator who retired at 64 to care for my grand children. As some families today must have two working parents to meet their family's basic needs, and with the high cost of infant care, it is often prohibitively expensive to have a second child unless grandparents can help out with care. It has been a delight for me to have this special relationship with my grandchildren and I believe there are many other grandparents who feel as I do--especially knowing our willingness to care for them is what made it possible to bring these grandchildren into the world. After the first year of the baby's life when I cared for her full time, I have the privilege of caring for my toddler and preschooler grandchildren 2 days/week, while they attend a work-sponsored child care the other 3 days. Then I am also available for sick care as needed. In this way, I help take a burden off the parents, enjoy a special relationship with the children, and yet have time for my own life, too. We all benefit.

I have been a FCCP for 13 years now and the thing that I continue to notice is that because we are doing the business in our home we are taken seriously as a business. People love the personalized care of the smaller groups but when it comes to scheduling, payments, my contract, so many people act as if I am playing business woman. Is this a trend throughout our country in FCC?

In Florida as well as many other states FCC providers tend to claim a "specialization" along with education of young children such as science actvities, babies only, VPK only, or in alot of cases specialization in the care of children with disabilities. Inclusion is a big part of our training and our day care insurance will go higher with every child who has a special sort fo disability, but we are not allowed to charge more for any child who may be disabled. Some chidren are more prone to get hurt if they cannot walk properly (fall alot, etc.).
We allow therapists into our home for these children so their families can get the help they need for their child even though the parents need to work. In some of these comments it appears like FCC s a srange entity. The reality is that FCC is a beautiful career and life choice for many individuals. And as for unionization....well...I live in Florida...unions???? Don't think so ( I wish). FCC has access to any formal education that any other day cre center person has access to as well as local conferances, local trainings from the ELC. Some people has chldren most of the time (24 hr care) and only because of that issue they find it difficult to go out to educate themselves. However, there are several good online education sources for everyone as well. I received my Associates degee in earlychildhood development with the help of TEACH program to pay for classes. In the Miami Dade area of Florida TEACH program will pay for BA degrees. I am waiting for them to help out in other parts of Florida for BA degrees.
Several years ago it seemed that parents prefered their babies and young toddlers in the care of FCC. Now with mega centers and a dwindlig economy even those babies are going into centers or unlicensed care and in my opinion not a wise choice for the child. (centers in my area tend to be more pricey than FCC but offer nothing more in return, and often times offer less) Again there is a perception problem that centers are better than FCC and parents do not take the time to educate themselves on this subject, our ratios are lower and we offer individualized services. I wish I could write a thesis or book on this subject as well....as you can tell I am very opinionated on this subject but I also have my experiences to back up my thoughts.
I started FCC when my child was 17 years old and I now have a 6 yr old so I did not start only to stay at home with my own children. I started FCC to have a real career in this wonderful field and to "build a better mousetrap" ya know...the American dream of owning your own business. I thought I could care for children on a more personal level and do it better than anyone else. (especially a center) I have never wanted to own my own day care center.

The trends in FCCP are that we are comming full circle toward being a group that are professionals and are raising our standards from the "baby sitting" role that we have been addressed as for years. We are more educated and we offer the same type of program that the centers do but with smaller groups and a more diverse age group. Our society is starting to take the blinders off and look at FCCP as a true viable choice for the Early Learning atmosphere that they prefer to have their children attend at this stage of their life. We are a group of professionals that are obtaining their CDA certificates and eventually going the extra mile to receiving their Accreditation for their business. I am proud to be a part of this ever changing and dedicated group that beleives in the future of our children .

Trends I would like to know more about:
The 2007 report states: "Families using home-based care (both regulated and unregulated) are more likely to prefer this care for infants and toddlers, but prefer preschools and centers for older children."

I want to know if home-based care is the preference of families with young children with disabilities INDEPENDENT of age.

And, if it is the preference, is it available as an option?

Trends I'd like to know more about:
1.If they serve subsidized children, are new quality ratings applied to them, and what they think of them; 2 . Is there any any increase in their access to higher education courses & degrees that they view as appropriate; 3. More info if fcc is unionized in their states or discussing unionization: any positive or negative results of unionization.

As a group home provider (12 children capacity), I find it difficult to meet all the national requirements in regards to employees. I live in a rural area and cannot charge what urban providers can charge. Many regulations put undue stress on rural providers. To me, it is like unfunded mandates. If the state and federal governments are not going to provide funding for the thousands of regulations they impose, they need to back off a little.

I am working on my Master's in Child Development and for my thesis I am comparing social/emotional outcomes for children in home and center environments. Could you please include any of this kind of information in your Trend Report? Thank you.

I am looking forward to the September issue!

It's especially exciting to see so many comments on this topic. A special thank you to Exchange for listening to the family child care community and taking on an issue that is so difficult to understnad.

There are many different dynamics for family child care, not the least of which is helping the public understand exactly what family child care really is. Is it simply care that is done in someone's home or is there more to the definition? Researchers often lump regulated care with any care that is done outside a center which complicates the issue even more.

There is no defined family child care infrastructure in the US, and there is often very little support for family child care providers.
States often include family child care in QRIS or other systems as an afterthought when the reality is that inclusion of family child care from the beginning of planning for the ECE field at large must include all environments. Family child care isn't just like center based care but on a smaller scale - which is one of the beauties and one of the disadvantages.

Addressing specific issues of this part of the profession are critical. Teri's comments about the business aspects are vital for everyone to understand. Inclusion of family child care in public policy issues is imperative. Ensuring that an adequate infrastructure that supports the unique needs of the family child care provider is vital. Making sure that providers have access to strong, vibrant professional organizations that are specific to the family child care community supports high quality in the whole profession.
NAEYC and NAFCC work collaboratively on a variety of issues and ensuring that there is "developmentally appropriate" support for family child care is always an issue that is part of the conversation. Of course, there is always room for improvement but including family child care at the table begins to set that stage. Looking at states (and there are several) where discussions about professional development, program assessment, continuous quality improvements don't happen unless family child care is included can be a lesson for all states.
Supporting strong professional family child care organizations locally, statewide, and nationallymay not be the only step that needs to be taken, but we know that being part of a professional organization makes a difference in quality. How can we make that happen for all providers?
Taking the time to address key issues for this often overlooked part of the field is an important step. Thanks Exchange for taking the time and effort to do this important work.

It appears that FCC can't win for loosing. Cynthia A. had made statements that FCC has been becomming more sterile in appearance just like our center based counterparts. The early learning coalitions are requireing this particular environment in FCC to ensure a high score on the ELC assesment tool. Many FCC providers crave an atmosphere that is totally comfortable for all and "homey" as well as playful, educational and fun, because this is our home. We are told to have "centers" for learning experiences such as the math center or science center or literacy center, etc... We are told to do this if we want to be contracted with ELC to possibley get a child or two from them. So I know myself and several others try to create the best of both worlds with the comfort of home but with the guideines of ELC. It really is the ELC dictating this process because (in my opinion) the ELC thinks in terms of center based care and not the uniqueness of FCC.

I am concerned about family child care in the United State. My son attended family child care from the age of 2 to 4.5 and the provider became part of our family. Early childhood education was her vocation: she earned an AA degree in early childhood and was nationally accredited by NAFCC. She recently quit caring for children in her home due to the large numbers of people keeping children illegally - with too many children, not enough materials, and hiding from the stage regulators.

She simply did not want to be associated with this group.

I am concerned for the field of family child care. And I am devastated for the children who will not be cared for by this provider.

Please address these issues in your study.

Thank you.

While I understand concerns about the need for professionalism in family chld care, perhaps a greater concern is about meeting the fundamental needs of the children, particularly the infants and toddlers, in our care. As a trainer and consultant for caregivers I often see how home care providers, in their attempt to gain respect and "professional" recognition, end up creating environments that have a similar sterility to institutional child care. The opportunity for the children in their care to actually experience a homelike setting is lost. It is still true that young children thrive in environments that provide open-ended and creative free play and are surrounded by adults engaged in meaningful, purposeful and practical work that the children can imitate. The pre-academic fundamentals of arithmetic, reading and reasoning can all be learned through daily life activities such as cooking, cleaning, sorting, and exploring nature. Home-based child care lends itself to these forms of learning. Practical, purposeful life, embued with warmth, awareness and joy, is the highest form of curriculum we can offer to young children. Whatever we can do to awaken this awareness in caregivers and in parents seeking care for their children will go a long way toward developing children with vitality, brilliance, and flexibility.

License and regulation rules should perhaps be the same throughout the board. Regardless of whether you are a family home, group home, or center. What is deemed as appropriate for a child should be the same regardless of what type of facility they are in.
In our State, Missoui, some providers are considered "registered vendors" they are not licensed and can watch no more than 4 unrelated children in their home. They can however receive funds from the State. If the State, which is always struggling with funds anyway, is going to pay for services for families, the recipients of the funds should HAVE TO meet no less than licensing standards, or save those funds for those of us who do!!

I have read some more of the other posts and it appears that people want some kind of proof that FCC is not damaging the children in care. ???? They are concerned about a lack of supervision? (Billie Warford/Renee Joiner) Are you kidding me? These perceptions are leading FCC into bankruptcies. I do not agree with illegal FCC or relative care sponsored by the state. If the state is going to pay for care then let it be in a regulated and licensed FCC. So lets take these types of FCC out of the equation. The rest of us like to work independantly so we can make up our own experiences and create our own jobs. We are "go getters" and we are great at what we do. We don't need anyone to tell us when to change a diaper or have storytime. We educate young children and promote thier familiy and have family involvement and connections for them in the community. We are English and Spanish speaking as well as many other languages...most often the language of love and respect.
And lets talk about those licensing agencies...have you EVER seen an unlicensed center? Nope, and why is that? Because the state licensing agency will swoop in like an eagle to shut them down to "protect" the children. This will emulate ALL centers to a "professional" status, if they deserve that distinction or not. Now lets talk about unlicensed FCC...SAHMS (stay at home moms having unlicensed FCC) or any person who just opens their house to the public for FCC....what is the response of licensing? Not much. They may come once and say "gee...you need to be licensed...", they do not shut them down on the spot and fine them or process them legally in a court of law. So they are allowed to squeek by for a very long time untill they damamge a child. So the perception of "professionalism" in FCC is damamged from the very agency that is supposed to be demanding it! The act of apathy in state licensing damamges the very root of FCC and we do not see that in center based care. There is a huge double standard. The playing field has never been level in child care (center vs. FCC) but we still have chosen the best route for us and offer greate services to all ages at below center rates with a whole lot more flexibility.

Business practices matter! As co-author of the Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care, I have had the privilege of working with many family child care providers across the country. I have learned from this experience that many providers need help with their business practices--budgeting and risk management planning in particular. I have also learned that the vast majority of providers embrace the opportunity to grow professionally. Family child care providers need support of their business practices or they won't be in business to provide children with nurturing care and support of learning.

How is family child care addressed in public policy? I believe that family child care needs to be a more integral part of each state's early learning and development system. Given the number of famiies with irregular work schedules, centers and schools will never be sufficient to adequately prepare young children to succeed in school and in life. I would like Exchange to address how family child care is being supported in states' early childhood policies such as quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS), state funded pre-kindergarten initiatives, and family child care credentialing in state professional development systems (PDS).

For those who want stats on the providers: I have national accreditaion with NAFCC, gold seal, A degree in Psy, AA in Early Childhood Development, CDA, second helping, licensed of course, National child care award winner with the Terri Lynn Lokoff and TYLENOL foundation, I take numerous trainings every year, have director credential, can teach VPK in my home, do night time care as well as day time care if needed. QRIS is not in my county. I am flexible with families but will not be taken advantage of them (familis) either. I have a classroom/playroom for childcare separate than family space, I use and have been trained to use Creative Curr., I am a member of local, state and national assoc., I have state inspections, fire marshall insp., pay for 3 differant licenses to operate my busiess in my home, food program available, have child care insurance and have incorporated my business to protect my famly assests. (none are left anymore!) I am contracted with the local coalition but have not been getting any calls from those families either. I have paid advetisments in the recent past to no avail. I still have no children in my care. I am consistant with families and children so they have stability in care and education.
I know others who have similar backgrounds in FCC, we are educated and professional. The center based teachers have a "perception" of professionalism but don't have legitimate formal trainings. It appears that the building that they work in gives them some sort of automatic sense of professionalism without all the work of obtaining degrees or above the standard yearly trainings. They are also usually very young and don't stay in one center for more than a few months at a time. So since I work at home (a nice and clean home) the perception to the public who do not know me is that I am a "babysitter" and am not to be trusted because I don't have a "boss" over me, or because I don't work with other adults in my home or in a large building. This is crazy but our reality all the same.
I agree with the person who stated that NAEYC attempts to tell families about quality child care/ sites....but they do not have any FCC information and they don't even deal with FCC. NAFCC is the only game in town for national accred. So why doesn't NAEYC get their own accreditaiton for FCC? There are so many places that will accredit centers but only one who accredits homes, doesn't that tell you something right there? Accreditation is very expensive and families don't even undertand the value of it. NAFCC doesn't have a mass campaign to uplift FCC in the eyes of the pubic, infact I have not run across a family yet who even knows what NAFCC is...but they have seen NAEYC all over the place. I would love to see NAFCC step up to the plate for FCC with mass advetisments supporting our nationally accredited homes. Put our money to work NAFCC!

We know that Hispanic children are less likely to be enrolled in child care centers and preschools than other groups in the U.S. But - is anyone tracking how many children who speak languages other than English are being cared for in family child care or kinship settings? As we look more closely at effective ways to help dual language learners be ready for school, reaching them in family child care or kinship care will be a critical component. Who knows who those non-English speaking providers are? Who is providing learning materials and books for them in different languages? Who is helping them to help the children get ready for school? Who is providing professional development in different languages?

It is possible that other language family child care providers may be caring for 10% or more of children in the family child care arena so meeting their language needs and the needs of the children in their care is absolutely critical!

Information that would be helpful for those of us wanting to understand trends in family child care: 1) changes in slots available by age of child, 2) changes in demand for family child care by age of child, 3) changes in licensing requirements for family home providers, 4) government policy and subsidies related to unlicensed care. Thanks.

Family child care has long been considered a step child in the early care and education area, although generations of cultures have cared for the families youngest members in the family home. The quality of care is often better than the center based care; offers extended time in excess of limited home visiting once a week (Including flexibility and non-traditional hours); and costs about the same as a center based slot. It will be important to see the factors related to(care giver education, training focus, history and scenarios of isolation, limited supervision, limited opportunities to network with other family care providers and underutilization of funding streams to raise the bar of quality and begin to target specialized services including services to young children with disabilities. When we recognize that children and some of their parents do not assimilate well in "super child care center" settings, we begin to value the nurturing environments of the family home on the lives of our children. It will also be important to see how various licensing agencies view and support family child care homes throughout the country; incidence of abuse and neglect in such settings; and how do we encourage the partnering with community agencies, especially Head Start and Early Head Start programs across the country. Other questions: what is the attrition rate and why? How many have an ongoing professional development plan? how many have parenting supports available? Indeed, we have come a long way in refining this care system which can be a polished jewel amongst the many settings, but are we really helping or helping the children, their parents, communities and the providers? I too am looking forward to this incredible article.

I am concered about child care for infants and toddlers and most babies spend time in family child care settings, both formal and informal. I'd like to see information on how staffed FCC networks can improve quality for infants and toddlers and what strategies are available to help finance FCC networks.

Clearly there are many advantages to families in family child care homes, small group sizes, siblings together, often in their own neighborhoods, consistant teacher/provider encouraging closer relationships with the children and the parent.
Disadvantages have often been fiancial. More difficult to market, word of mouth is our best and most used, but sometimes not dependable when needed. Close relationships with families often a financial burden as providers lower rates, accept lower or no co payments from families because they know them well, know their situations and want to help.

Other disadvantages have been isolation. Many care for just a few children in their home, for very long hours, some evenings and weekends. Joining family child care associations and meeting with peers is often the first best step. From there it is typical for providers to take trainings and many seek formal education as well.
New and good news for family child care is the unions. Illinois was first, Wa state second. Have one single voice, the power to bargain and negotiate, being visable, has been a huge support and advantage for family child care. First and foremost, providers said, we will not do anything to harm our families. We will bargain with the state, but we will not put families at risk of losing their state subsidized payment to do this. In fact, one raise gained through bargaining was deliberately given up by providers to insure that family co payments were not increased.

In WA state 650 providers now have health insurance. We have recieved our first REAL raise in the history of family child care and during these really tough economic times have not gone backward or lost benifits (that we typically lost on a whim in much better times, like non standard hours bonuses)

When WA state providers joined with SEIU to form their own union they intentionally included licensed exempt (not illegal) providers, more commonly known as family friends and neighbors. Understanding they are not the same as licensed providers, we recognized that they cared for the same children (sometimes the exact children where a licensed provider providers care during the day and and exempt in the evenings). Bargaining provided a huge win for this group, not only a raise, but most importantly a training (with a monitary incentive) that only raised the level of care, but provided the much needed peer support that licensed providers recognized as a great need. In most cases these trainings are conducted by licensed providers who identify with and through experience and their own professional journey are able to provide support as well as the training.

Thank you for doing is article for family child care. We are small businesses. Many providers are so intentional about providing quality care and close relationships, that they have missed the business part and too often don't make it. Having a union has helped many providers realize the gains of being professional (amoung other gains, being able to STAY in business). Our union has also nurtured and provided the tools for many family childcare providers to become leaders. They now lead locally, at a state level, are frequent visitors to our capital, (where many legislators recognize personally as well as a profession and small business) and have ventured across the states to help providers in new states see a new way of doing business, by forming a union.

Thanks for doing this feature.

Nancy Gerber

Family child care is being shut out by large centers ,and coalitions who do not
support them. I have more education and experience than 99% of any center staff in my area and I don't have any children. Parents want their children in a large group of other children. I don't believe that these parents understand value or quality in childcare. We can't just give away our services for free, these parents want prices such as $80 per week for thier babies and that is so wrong...the centers don't charge a mere $80/week! I have put so much time, money and effort into creating and establishing a high quality child care business that I can't accept below standard pay. I will wait for that right family or families to include in my child care home, no more bargaining. I have found that parents who get a good financial break tend to misstreat their provider and don't express care for their children. More and more home providers are closing their doors to attempt to find outside employment, the parents options are dwindling rapidly at this time as home providers leave this field. Many home providers have odd hour or overnight care, so where will those needy parents go to in the future? I could go on and on about this subject but that won't change the trend of rapid unemployment within the self employed child care providers....and we don't get unemployment benefits.

I am interested in how many family child care sites are taking care of special needs children. it would also be good to know how many receive training from professionals to care for these children and how many do not. how many children are identified spec needs and how many are not but it is obvious that some of the children are significantly different from the other children. how many special needs are cared for by grandparents and other relatives outside mother and/or father.

My concern and biggest competition is unregulated childcare providers. In Ohio you may care for 6 children in your home with absolutely NO license, regulation or accountability (other than the parents). While I am spending endless hours and money with education/training, safety, licensing requirements and the restrictions(ages, ratios,etc), which raises "quality", I have become increasingly frustrated by my neighbors who can care for ANY age, any way they please and charge way less than market rate. They are a constant threat to my ability to stay in business. In my 35years in this business I have found that most parents WILL choose Price over quality and no study can tell me differently. Most of my calls are "price-shoppers". They have heard I run a fantastic program, but when they hear the price (which is slightly below market to compete with large centers nearby), they are turned off by the price of quality care. I am constantly dealing with clients trying to "nickle and dime" me. If one is running a "business"(which means you are being paid for a service) in their home, one should be regulated and accountable to standards. Ohio will never raise quality/education standards for children until they deal with this underground majority who are caring for Ohio's children (including Grandparents/relatives who collect State money to care for their own family members).

In the FCC trends report, the things I'd want to know are probably not readily available, but here they are:

vacancy rate
average age of child served
% of children full-time/full-week vs part-time/part-week
training/education of provider
participation in QRIS- Y or N (If Y, at what Star level?)
accredited Y or N (If Y, by whom?)
average fee
% of subsidized children served
% of bad debt
# of years in business

For the next report, I'm also interested in:
-the percentage of family child care providers participating in QRIS (nationwide and individual states)
-percentage serving low income families, english language learners, children with special needs, teen parents
-how they choose their professional development (topics, modalities,convenience etc)
-how many are part of a network of other family child care providers (either an association or an informal group of peers)
-what supports are most valuable to them
-what supports they continue to want but don't have access to
-how many have taken small business classes - either as non-credit or credit
- what special services and opportunities they offer families (late pick ups, evening or emergency care, family picnics, clothing swaps etc.)

I would like additional information on how local zoning fees and state fees/more stringent requirements are affecting the overall pool of legal FCC providers.

In FCC I see two big sets, those who are doing something till their children start school, and the teachers who know how they want to teach and so set up their own classroom to do it their way.

This is two very different groups, one part of the cc community and one which may not even know its out there.

Only NAFCC acredites FCC, NAEYC talks about listing the best programs, but no FCC, and no link to NAFCC. If NAEYC is in fact working for the best for children, why are FCC step children?

What is our issue, for the pro's its often just being seen.

How are these persons being served through the higher ed community? Do they have college work, degrees, etc.?

Where are their colleges that serve the needs of FDC providers, specifically and what kinds of curriculum is being used? Is it different from the standard ECDev program curriculum?

What is the turnover rate in FDC work?

How much movement is there from FDC to center based work?

Family Child Care is growing and we are loose on a number of experts to train these providers. I find in my workshops and training classes that some of the material is helpful to them, but they certainly do have some different dynamics that require someone with more experience than myself. This training should happen quick.

I'm licensed, accredited, and a star level three home. I have been in the business for over 14 years and have watched the expectations for family childcare providers move from babysitters to childcare professionals. For this reason, I along with many of my colleage providers returned to school for our degrees. Many of us have bachelor and master degrees in early childhood. Those that decided not to pursue their degrees are licensed, accredited, starlevel and have their CDA's and some college credits.
We also belong to a family childcare association for the sole purpose of networking, attending meaningful workshops to promote quality. We have recently invited our assistants to join our organization. We believe that part of quality program equation must include the staff. Our organziation mentors to new providers, and many of our members are involved in public policy with Action for Children. We are currently involved in a crucial fight to prevent drastic cuts to childcare. Our website is newly developed in which we hope to reach thousands of family childcare providers encouraging them to become the best provider they can be and understand that family childcare is a profession that deserves respect. Our website is spna.net

Understanding the trajectory of the trend is critical, if there are 214,000 licensed family homes and how many unregulated family homes are there. How many children are being cared for in these setting. Poses the constant question of the quality, in many cases, quality is just fundamental safety, which is critical.

BUT

The current brain research studied by Bruce Perry has deep implications on child rearing practices...90% of the brain is developed by age four and the ongoing plasticity of the brain, we need to consider the intentionality of child rearing and child care practices. Childhood is changing but the child's needs are not changing...they need positive relationships.

SO

How do we reach out to the Family Homes, licensed and unlicensed and support the practices that go far beyond basic safety? We must remember, we are impacting generations everyday, while safety is critical for the physical development but how are we addressing the deeper unseen area of development and the toxic stress children are experiencing. We must begin to focus on the EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT - attachment, temperament, identity, self regulation, and others. The emotional development of children strongly influences the social development of children, which then build a child's resiliency and attitudes towards living, learning and academics.

It is an important discussion, what are your thoughts?

Come visit us at www.uccc.org

Steve

As a member of the NAFCC Accreditation Council I will be watching for this information. Our Review Team is just beginning to review/revise the NAFCC Accreditation Standards and your information might have importance to our work.

Ask:

Are you familiar with NAFCC Accreditation?
Are you accredited?
If not, why? (ask if it is the money or the work or the lack of knowledge by them or by parents about Accreditation. Or any other reason)

Average yearly income.

Is your FCC program urban? rural? suburban?

Do you accept children on subsidies?

What is your level of education: (CDA, Associates, Bachelors, Masters)

How long have you been in the field of FCC?

How much longer do you plan to be in the field of FCC?

Do you conduct FCC in the space where your family lives or do you have a separate space/room for your program or is it a combination of both?

Number of children enrolled.

Please make sure to get the state they work in, their age, their sex (are there men out there??)

Thank you so much for including FCC in your research and reporting. FCC is often forgotten in the research or dismissed as "babysitters."

I'd be happy to talk to you about our work on revising the NAFCC Quality Standards.

Linda Schumacher
Early Education and Care Specialist and Accreditation Council Member
508-333-1230 or [email protected]

Family child care providers are being asked to do more and more to prepare children for a successful start in kindergarten. This requires a thorough knowledge of developmentally appropriate practice. What is being done around the country and around the world to help educate providers on this topic?

Also, how are quality rating systems affecting family child care providers?

Such an interesting topic! Thank you for focusing on family child care since this is an often neglected sector of early childhood education.

I am very interested in childcare trends in China as I shall be going there in June this year to give a workshop for parents on Montessori education. I hope China will be included. The main topic will be 'education begins from birth' with an emphasis on 'the importance of play' and the amount of time parents are able to spend with their children in the modern world.



Many thanks.

Joan Lesley Joffick