Anne Vilen

Writer

Anne Vilen writes about child care, education and mental health from her home in Asheville, North Carolina.  Find her on X: @Anne_Vilen

Articles by Anne Vilen

Gunawardena Family Child Care in Altadena, California after the Los Angelos fires.

Up in Flames: It’s a Long, Hard Road to Recovery for Altadena Family Child Care Providers

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.
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Una carta de amor y una llamada de atención: documentales sobre el cuidado infantil que calientan corazones y despiertan la acción

Home Grown analiza cómo los documentales están cambiando la narrativa sobre el cuidado infantil e inspirando reformas políticas y regulatorias. Este blog analiza dos nuevos documentales: Make a Circle y At Home/In Home: Cuidado infantil rural en Alaska en crisis.
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A Love letter and a Wake-Up Call’: Documentary Films About Child Care Warm Hearts and Spark Action

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.
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Home Grown Values Sustain Positive Change in the Years Ahead

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.
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Raíces y ramificaciones: Los programas de cuidado infantil familiar celebran el Año Nuevo Lunar

Los proveedores de cuidado infantil familiar tienen la capacidad única de celebrar festividades especiales para los niños que cuidan durante todo el año. Para el Año Nuevo Lunar 2025, destacamos algunas de las celebraciones que se llevan a cabo en los HBCC de todo el país.
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Roots and Offshoots: Family Child Care Programs Celebrate Lunar New Year 

Family child care providers have a unique ability to celebrate special holidays for the children they care for throughout the year. For Lunar New Year 2025, we spotlighted some of the celebrations happening in HBCC around the country.
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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.
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El regalo del descanso y el autocuidado en estas fiestas

Los proveedores de cuidado infantil en el hogar comparten cómo descansan y se cuidan durante la temporada festiva, a menudo ocupada y exigente.
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¿Qué significa realmente el reconocimiento y el respeto hacia los proveedores de cuidado infantil familiar?

Los proveedores de cuidado infantil familiar valoran los sistemas de licencias porque estos garantizan la rendición de cuentas e incentivan la atención de calidad. En este blog, los proveedores de cuidado infantil familiar comparten por qué valoran y respetan los sistemas de licencias y cómo ese respeto puede ser recíproco mediante una mejor representación de los proveedores en dichos sistemas.
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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 quality care. 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.
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Una carta de amor a los cuidadores de FFN

Grandmother and granddaughter together outdoors

A Love Letter to FFN Caregivers

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.
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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. Her community-driven approach focuses on connection, trust, and collective wisdom to nurture both children and communities. Read more about Deborah's life and work here.
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Child Care Insurance Is Expensive, Hard to Find, and Complex: One More Burden for Home-Based Providers

Home-based child care providers have to carry additional insurance for their businesses, but obtaining the coverage is not as straightforward — or affordable — as it could be.
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Growing Up Vulnerable: Books that Celebrate the Village That Raises Our Children

In honor of World Book Day, we are highlighting three books that recognize that children learn most from caring adults, including the family, friends and neighbors who are the village raising 11.5 million kids in America today.
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Policy Matters: Home-Based Providers Take Our Case to the Statehouse

Learn how Home Grown's Policy Work Group is working to help inform and shape policies that support home-based child care providers.
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A Home Grown Holiday Wish List

This season of giving, please join us in asking policymakers to support legislation that provides kids and caregivers with gifts that keep on giving throughout the year. This blog highlights the top five things on Home Grown’s holiday wish list.
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Una lista de deseos navideños de cosecha propia

En esta temporada de generosidad, únase a nosotros para pedir a los legisladores que apoyen leyes que brinden a niños y cuidadores regalos que perduren durante todo el año. Este blog destaca los cinco deseos navideños más importantes de Home Grown.
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We’re Grateful for Our Child Care Heroes!

This Thanksgiving, Home Grown is sharing gratitude for the home-based child care providers who keep America working.
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Cuidando a los niños y empoderando a las comunidades: las abuelas hacen del mundo un lugar mejor

Deborah Young, abuela de Boulder, Colorado, lleva décadas cuidando niños y empoderando comunidades. Su enfoque comunitario se centra en la conexión, la confianza y la sabiduría colectiva para nutrir tanto a los niños como a las comunidades. Lea más sobre la vida y la obra de Deborah aquí.
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La Fundación William Penn garantiza la continuidad y estabilidad de los proveedores de cuidado infantil de Filadelfia

Quality Influential Professionals (QIP) es una red de cuidado infantil con más de 80 proveedores autorizados a domicilio en Filadelfia. QIP recibió recientemente una inversión considerable de la Fundación William Penn para apoyar a los proveedores de cuidado infantil a domicilio y garantizar que las familias puedan seguir eligiendo el cuidado a domicilio.
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William Penn Foundation Underwrites Continuity and Stability for Philly Child Care Providers

Quality Influential Professionals (QIP), is a a child care network of more than 80 licensed home-based providers in Philadelphia. QIP was recently granted a sizable investment from the William Penn Foundation to support home-based child care providers and ensure families can keep choosing home-based care.
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Voces desde casa: moldeando la conversación nacional sobre la atención de FFN

El colectivo Voces desde Casa existe para transformar la narrativa sobre el apoyo a los cuidadores familiares, amigos y vecinos (FFN). Esta iniciativa busca aumentar los recursos para estos cuidadores, en particular mediante su inclusión en la financiación pública y los sistemas de apoyo.
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Voices from Home: Shaping the National Conversation about FFN Care 

The Voices from Home collective exists to shift the narrative around supporting family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) caregivers. This initiative works to to increase resources for FFN caregivers, particularly via inclusion in public funding and systems of support.
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There’s No Place Like Home: Family Child Care Providers Struggle to Find Affordable Housing for a Small Business

The lack of affordable housing and unfair regulations are significant barriers for home-based child care providers who wish to settle into communities and grow their businesses.
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No hay lugar como el hogar: Los proveedores de cuidado infantil familiar luchan por encontrar viviendas asequibles para una pequeña empresa

La falta de viviendas asequibles y las regulaciones injustas son barreras importantes para los proveedores de cuidado infantil en el hogar que desean establecerse en comunidades y hacer crecer sus negocios.
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The Love’s Baked In: Holiday Foods Nurture a Child’s Belly and Soul

The holidays are a time when many people gather around meals to celebrate the season. Home-based child care providers dish up an extra helping of love with celebratory treats and traditions.
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Thriving Providers Project In the Spotlight

The Home Grown Thriving Providers Project, which hopes to inform early childhood policy reforms at both the local and national level through monthly cash payments, is getting national attention for its work.
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The Kids Are Alright: Children (and some Grown-Ups) Explain How Home-Based Child Care Prepared Them for School and Life

Five former home-based child care attendees - ranging from ages 7 to 34 - share about their experiences and why that time was so transformative and instructive.
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Generations of Kids Get Their Smarts and Their Resilience in Home-Based Child Care

Research has shown that high-quality home-based child care provides children with significant positive lifetime outcomes. Read more about provider Benu Chhabra.
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Home-Based Caregivers Provide More than the Essentials for Parents Who Don’t Work 9-5

Home-based child care is the best choice for many parents who work non-traditional hours because they are flexible, accessible, and create a nurturing family atmosphere for children.
Photo Cred: M By Michaela Photography

Home for the Holidays

Home-based providers celebrate holidays and the cultural traditions with the families they serve, which strengthens children’s cultural identity and sense of belonging.