Alexandra R. Patterson

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.

Home Grown celebrates the new Council of Economic Advisers brief, Child Care Is Infrastructure: Evidence from Universal Pre-K. For over 3 years we have invested in co-funding research that highlights the importance of including Family Child Care (FCC) in public pre-K systems and are excited to be working with NIEER this fall to support a cohort of public pre-K systems with targeted TA and evidence-based tools to modify their pre-K systems to include FCC.

This blog dives into the value of family, friend and neighbor care for parents and children around the U.S. while calling for inclusion of FFN care in policy, resources and supports.

Including family child care providers in pre-K systems supports providers like, Sylvia, in ensuring young children receive quality early learning experiences.

Learn more about the White House Student Loan Forgiveness plan's potential to impact early childhood workers.

Nearly 20% of home-based child care providers carry student loan debt, but they were excluded from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.