Family Child Care Support and Implementation: Current Challenges and Strategies from the Perspectives of Providers
 
Background Quality early childhood education (ECE) sets the foundation for children’s
healthy development. Families make choices regarding the ECE options available to them,
and families who desire smaller, more personal, flexible, and less expensive options, often
select family child care (FCC) providers over center-based care. In addition, trending
research in the United States indicates that there is a decline of FCC providers leading to a
gap in the available resources for families.

Objective This study explored the experiences of family child care providers regarding the
challenges and benefits of their profession.

Methods Two focus groups (N = 27) comprised of licensed and unlicensed FCC providers
were conducted to understand their perspectives on the perceived challenges and benefits
of their work.