When I was growing up, I learned quickly what it means to be a caregiver. My brother faced a host of physical and mental health challenges, and I helped him navigate a world that didn’t always meet his needs. That experience shaped my life, and ultimately, my work with family child care educators, who show up for children and families every single day.

Caregiving is essential, especially for families with young children. And yet, in our society, caregivers are ignored. This has been true for centuries, and certainly since the 1996 welfare reforms that fundamentally changed eligibility for government assistance imposing time limits and requiring parents (including those with young children) to enter the workforce in order to receive benefits. In the absence of child care, it left thousands of women facing an impossible choice, and spurred me to start All Our Kin, a nonprofit organization that trains, supports and sustains the often invisible family child care workforce.

These are skilled professionals who operate high-quality early learning programs out of their homes. As small business owners, they are a critical part of the early care and education infrastructure, providing flexible, culturally responsive care, particularly in neighborhoods where options are often limited, and especially for families working nontraditional hours. They fuel local economies and weather long days running their programs, creating jobs, giving parents freedom to work, and building community wealth.

These early learning professionals also play an important role in the lives of the children they serve, not only as core adults in their daily lives, but also as key providers of support when faced with some of the greatest challenges of our time such as public health emergencies, climate disruptions and economic instability. They adapt quickly and creatively to support children and families.

The responsibility of supporting young children and their families through periods of collective stress is longstanding, but it came into sharper view during the height of the pandemic. When larger child care centers were compelled to close, many home-based programs kept their doors open, providing care for the children of essential workers. And they not only remained open, but made the best of a nearly impossible situation to help children and families get through the toughest of days.

Read the full article about family child care educators by Jessica Sager at The 74.