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.
Author: Home Grown
Promising Practices for High-Quality Home-Based Child Care Networks: Family, Friend, and Neighbor Providers’ Recommendations
Family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) providers are grandmothers, aunts, other close relatives, or parents who care for unrelated children of friends or neighbors in addition to their own. In many states, these providers are exempt from licensing regulations and operate outside of publicly funded payment systems. They may be paid informally by families or not
Responding to Crisis: Cash Aid in Times of Disaster
Emergency funding is deeply ingrained in the work of Home Grown. Home Grown has developed a national team of organizations and partners to design and set up of the Home Grown Home-Based Child Care Emergency Fund for Severe Weather & National Disaster Response.
Student Loan Debt is a Critical Factor in the Early Educator Compensation Crisis
Home-based providers earn the lowest wages in the child care system, with many making just $10,000 per year, while continuing to serve underserved families. Despite their essential role, they are often left out of policy discussions and loan forgiveness programs, contributing to ongoing financial strain. This new fact sheet sheds light on the earning challenges for family child care providers.
A Love Letter to FFN Caregivers
From presidential candidate Kamala Harris to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, many leaders credit home-based child care providers with raising them up and saving their careers. In celebration of FFN Appreciation Week, we spoke with three distinguished leaders in the child care sector to hear how their experiences with FFN care shaped who they are today.
Caring for Kids and Empowering Communities: Grandmothers Make the World a Better Place
Deborah Young, a grandmother from Boulder, Colorado, has spent decades caring for children and empowering communities. Through her experience as a single mother and educator, she has supported immigrant and refugee women, helping them turn caregiving into sustainable businesses. Her community-driven approach focuses on connection, trust, and collective wisdom to nurture both children and communities. Young’s lifelong mission exemplifies the power of home-based child care in transforming lives.
We Can’t Forget Home-based Child Care Providers as We Celebrate National Black Business Month
Black home-based child care providers, who are often overlooked but vital to their communities. These caregivers not only nurture children but also provide education and resources to families in need. Despite their essential work, they face significant challenges, including low wages and outdated reimbursement systems. We need policy changes to better support these small businesses.
Announcing the Enriching Public Pre-K Through Inclusion of Family Child Care (EPIC FCC) initiative
The EPIC FCC initiative seeks to support state, city, county and tribal government leaders in expanding the participation of family child care (FCC) educators in their pre-K systems or engaging FCC educators in these pre-K systems for the first time. Home Grown is committed to ensuring that home-based child care providers can fully participate in well-resourced early childhood initiatives, including pre-K. Learn more and apply.
Annual CACFP Reimbursement Rate Adjustment Does Not Close the Cost Gap: Home-based Child Care Programs Need More Than Pennies
The annual CACFP reimbursement rate increase is insufficient to meet the needs of home-based child care providers. With only a 1% increase for home-based providers, the rising costs of groceries continue to strain their budgets. This modest adjustment fails to cover the expenses of providing nutritious meals to children. Advocacy for more robust and sustained investment in the CACFP is essential to ensure that providers can offer high-quality care and nutrition.
Making Progress Through a Complex Issue: Imagining a New Family Child Care Licensing Approach
This family child care recommendation report provides in-depth insight into the challenges providers face in current family child care state licensing systems and recommended solutions to help design system reform using FCC provider perspectives and expertise.