Promising Practices for High-Quality HBCC Networks: Supporting Family, Friend, and Neighbor Providers

Family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) providers represent the largest non-parental child care sector in the United States, with the numbers of providers and children in these care settings far outnumbering licensed family child care (FCC) or center-based settings. Yet despite the prevalence, little is known about the types of supports and resources that FFN providers value and the ways that home-based child care networks (“networks”) tailor support for this population of caregivers. This report highlights intentional network strategies to enhance opportunities for FFN providers, specifically, as well as the experiences of FFN providers who receive resources and supports from networks.

Homes are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in Chimney Rock Village, N.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Navigating Grief Around Hurricane Helene and Hopes for the New Year

Home-based child care provider Danithza Baker shares how navigating the aftermath of Hurricane Helene is shaping her hopes for the new year.
Rest

The Gift of Rest and Self-Care This Holiday Season

Home-based child care providers share how they rest and care for themselves during the often busy and demanding holiday season.
Licensing

What Does Recognition and Respect for Family Child Care Providers Really Mean?

Family child care providers value licensing systems because of how these systems provide accountability and incentivize quaity care, while recognizing them as child care professionals. What providers want is simple — inclusion and representation in the decision-making bodies that regulate their work. In this blog, FCC providers share why they value and respect licensing systems and how that respect can be reciprocated through better representation of providers in those systems. Read the blog post here.