Home Grown is grateful to the Biden-Harris administration for proposing changes in response to both the needs of families to access affordable, quality child care and to the needs of child care providers to earn a family-sustaining wage for their critically necessary work offering high-quality child care. Our recommendations aim to ensure that all home-based child care providers, who constitute a vital part of the sector and serve approximately half of the children in care, can share in the benefits of the changes proposed by the administration and help meet the need for high-quality, accessible and affordable child care. Here we share our comments in response to the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families proposal to amend the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) regulations.
Alexandra R. Patterson is the Director of Policy and Strategy at Home Grown. Her work focuses on policy solutions that equitably distribute resources to home based child care providers and strengths based frameworks for understanding quality in home based child care settings. Her passion for early childhood is driven by a centering belief in access to quality education for all as a social justice issue.
Home-based child care providers share feedback and insight on their experiences with legislative visits during the 2025 August recess.
Families and child care providers are being squeezed as pandemic-era supports expire and federal funding stalls. Across the country, home-based providers are struggling to stay open amid lower reimbursements and rising costs. Without stronger federal investment in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), tens of thousands of children could lose access to care.
Carmela is a family, friend and neighbor caregiver who is proud of her Hispanic heritage. Learn more about how her Hispanic heritage shapes her work as a HBCC caregiver in this blog.