Compilation of Initiatives to Support Home-Based Child Care

摘要

Home-based child careregulated family child care and family, friend, and neighbor care exempt from regulationis a common child care arrangement for many young children in the United States, especially those from low-income families and families of color (Porter, Paulsell, Del Grosso, Avellar, Hass, & Vuong, 2010a). Research also suggests that home-based care may be the predominant form of non-parental care for infants and toddlers (Brandon, 2005). Further, it represents a significant proportion of the child care for children whose families receive subsidies (Child Care Bureau, 2006). Parents use these arrangements for a variety of reasons including convenience, flexibility, trust, shared language and culture, and individual attention from the caregiver. Regulated family child care has been an issue for research and policy since the 1980s, when states actively began to invest in efforts to expand its supply and improve its quality. In contrast, family, friend, and neighbor child care did not emerge as a focus of research and policy until the mid-1990s, after the enactment of welfare reform. In the past decade, growing recognition of the role that these unregulated settings play in the child care supply has prompted many studies and an increasing number of initiatives that aim to support these caregivers. Information about the quality of home-based child care is fairly sparse; however, there are more studies of quality in family child care than in family, friend, and neighbor care. Moreover, the available studies vary in their sample sizes, characteristics of caregivers observed, and the observation measures used to assess quality. This variation may account, at least in part, for the mixed picture of quality that emerges from this set of studies. Some research suggests that home-based child care environments are relatively safe, and that caregivers are affectionate and responsive (Layzer & Goodson, 2006; Paulsell, Mekos, Del Grosso, Rowand, & Banghart, 2006; Tout & Zaslow, 2006). Other studies using standard environmental rating scales, such as the Family Day Care Rating Scale (FDCRS; Harms & Clifford, 1989), have found low levels of quality. Similarly, other studies have found that little time is spent on learning activities such as reading or higher-level talk and engagement with children (Layzer & Goodson, 2006; Paulsell et al., 2006; Tout & Zaslow, 2006). Many state and local agencies, foundations, and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) have explored strategies for improving quality in home-based child care settings. However, relatively little is known about the effectiveness of these strategies, making it difficult for states to make informed policy and program decisions about how to best support home-based providers.