When Kelly Baker was a toddler in Huntington, West Virginia, back in the ‘90s, she loved going to Ms. Kathy’s family child care. Decades later, Kelly truly joined Ms. Kathy’s family; she married Kathy’s son and they started a family of their own. “My kids have grown up with Ms. Kathy, too,” she says. “They
Licensing has always been viewed as a minimum set of standards, upon which quality standards are stacked. Across the board, from family child care (FCC) providers to parents to governors, there is agreement that state licensing regulation is necessary infrastructure to enable child safety in group child care settings. Home Grown’s work alongside a Workgroup
In the first 100 days of the Trump Administration, we saw sweeping changes to many aspects of American policy and many more have been proposed. This blog post lays out key information to support you in making sense of this moment and taking action to protect yourself and your community and to impact the outcome of the proposed actions.
In January 2025, Home-based child care Francisca Gunawardena provider lost everything in the Los Angeles fires. Today, Francisca is still trying to figure out how to move forward.
Early childhood educators, including home-based child care providers, around the nation are exploring ways to bring the natural world to life as a classroom for children. We spoke with three providers who shared how they incorporate nature-based play in their programs.
Home Grown takes a look at how documentaries are changing the narrative about child care work and inspiring policy and regulatory reform. This blog takes a look at two new documentaries Make a Circle and At Home/In Home: Rural Alaska Child Care in Crisis.
Home Grown remembers Maritza Manrique, a fierce early childhood education advocate, a home-based child care provider and a member of the Home Grown Policy Workgroup.
To support home-based child care with tax policy, there are opportunities for organizations to make federal policy asks or for local governments to replicate some existing, successful programs.
Home Grown’s new values statement underscores the organization’s commitment to reimagining child care policies and systems through collaboration with home-based providers and the communities they serve. Read more.
Black and Brown communities have historically relied on home-based child care as a form of community cultural wealth and resilience even though this work has been consistently undervalued due to systemic inequities. Recognizing the strengths of providers and caregivers and investing in culturally rooted solutions can help shift the power in decision-making and help strengthen and support home-based child care.
