Home-Based Child Care Workers Describe the Histories and Policies That Shape Their Work

• In Event: Looking at the Histories of Black and Latina Early Childhood Educators to Guide the Future of Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Objectives: To share the expertise and insights of home-based care workers on: a) how their personal, family, and community histories have shaped their work in home-based care; and b) what programs and policies they want to support their home-based child care work.

Theoretical framework: Black feminism centers the experiences of Black women as the vantage point at the intersection of gender, race, and class, from which to critically examine economic, political and social structures and practices[1]. Black feminist theory describes that the feminist agenda for women to enter the labor force and gain economic standing and freedom was predicated on the transfer of domestic and child care responsibilities to other women who are often members of subordinated racial ethnic groups[2]. This philosophy of transferring child care responsibilities to other, subordinated women has been translated into public policy and structures of the ECE system as seen in public policies that bestow incremental benefits (e.g. wages and benefits) to ECE workers who move away from the home into center-based settings and school-based settings, while workers in home-based settings continue to receive the least public support[3]. Black feminism suggests that through their distinct positions in society, Black women, and other women who are “outsiders within” can offer intimate, insider knowledge about how to remediate broken and biased systems[1].

Methods: This qualitative study used a researcher-developed interview protocol to explore the histories of home-based care workers and the Resident-led Research Policy and Power-RRPP[4], a community-developed, strengths-based framework for engaging community members in conversations about policy issues.

Data sources: Unlisted home-based workers (n=24) participated in individual interviews and were divided into three cohorts to participate in a series of three focus groups. Transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach.
Findings: Home-based care workers describe how labor market forces, educational opportunities, policies within the childcare profession (e.g., regulations, education requirements, compensation) and previous community and family examples influenced their entry into home-based child care. Through focus groups, home-based child care workers describe existing resources in their communities that can be leveraged to support their work with young children.

Scholarly significance: Policymakers can use the programs and policies identified by the unlisted home-based workforce to validate the desirability of existing programs for expanded funding and accessibility, and to inform the development of new programs.

Author

• Zoelene Hill, New York Academy of Medicine