2-117 - Perspectives on Home-Based Child Care Settings: Understanding Quality, Children’s Outcomes, and Policy

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

Home-based child care is the most widely used care arrangement and serves some of the most vulnerable populations including families with infants and toddlers, low incomes, and jobs that require them to work nontraditional hours. However, researchers have tended to design studies focused on child care centers, leaving the field with a smaller evidence base around home-based settings. As the importance of early childhood experiences has gained prominence, states are increasing their investment in promoting quality across early care and education settings through quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS). These systems increasingly include family child care programs. This context sets the stage for a panel that Amy Blasberg will moderate. She will start by grounding the conversation in a new conceptual model for understanding quality in home-based child care. Panelists will then respond to questions about promising practices to support quality in home-based settings, recent research on child outcomes in QRIS-rated family child care settings, and using policy as a lever for supporting home-based child care. Researchers will share 1) strategies from home visiting that could be applied to home-based child care settings, 2) strengths of family child care networks and how these systems can support providers in a variety of ways, and 3) results from a study in Georgia and a synthesis of QRIS validation studies conducted over the past several years. A federal policymaker will address policies that require home-based providers to meet certain standards and how states can continue to engage providers in the workforce.

Sub Unit

• Social Policy

Moderator

• Amy Blasberg, Child Trends

Panelists

• Juliet Bromer, Erikson Institute

• Toni Porter, Early Care and Education Consulting

• Brenda Miranda, Child Trends

• Ann Rivera, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation; Administration for Children and Families