The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of child care, particularly home-based child care (HBCC), a sector that has historically had a central but often overlooked role in supporting children and families. The most recent national data (PDF) show more than 1 million paid HBCC providers cared for more than 3 million children from birth to age 5 in 2012. HBCC providers include anyone from legally unlicensed relatives caring for one or two related children, to licensed family child care homes with staff caring for 10 or more children.

For families with infants and toddlers, families working nontraditional schedules, families living in rural areas, families with children with special needs, and other families for whom child care centers are not available or not preferred, HBCC is critically important. During the COVID-19 pandemic, HBCC has become even more essential, as more families have turned to HBCC options, likely because of the closure or reduced services of many child care centers and/or a desire to have their children in smaller settings to reduce health risks.

Despite the importance of HBCC providers, many of these providers and the children they serve do not participate in or benefit from public child care investments, including the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which helps families with low incomes pay for child care. Without CCDF subsidies, HBCC providers have access to fewer financial supports, and the many families who rely on HBCC providers have less access to financial assistance for child care.

Some specific steps policymakers could take to support HBCC providers include the following:

  • States and the federal Office of Child Care could engage in a systemwide review of subsidy policies and practices to assess barriers and supports for HBCC participation.
  • Federal pandemic-related child care funds can be used in ways that are appropriate, accessible, and relevant for different kinds of HBCC providers and that address inequities in providers’ access to public resources.
  • States could address hurdles created by health and safety requirements for HBCC providers, particularly those exempt from licensing, by identifying new approaches designed for these settings.

Read the full article about home-based child care providers by Gina Adams and Kelly Dwyer at Urban Insitute.