Home-Based Child Care—Characteristics Associated with Different Levels of Quality

Sim Loh is a family partnership coordinator at Children’s Village, a nationally-accredited Keystone 4 STARS early learning and school-age enrichment program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serving about 350 children. She supports children and families, including non-English speaking families of immigrant status, by ensuring equitable access to education, health, employment, and legal information and resources on a day-to-day basis. She is a member of the Children First Racial Equity Early Childhood Education Provider Council, a community member representative of Philadelphia School District Multilingual Advisory Council, and a board member of Historic Philadelphia.
Sim explains, “I ensure families know their rights and educate them on ways to speak up for themselves and request for interpretation/translation services. I share families’ stories and experiences with legislators and decision-makers so that their needs are understood. Attending Leadership Connections will help me strengthen and grow my skills in all domains by interacting with and hearing from experienced leaders in different positions. With newly acquired skills, I seek to learn about the systems level while paying close attention to the accessibility and barriers of different systems and resources and their impacts on young children and their families.”
While the majority of research on the quality of early care and education focuses on center-based settings, more than half of young children in care spend time in home-based settings. The most vulnerable children, those from low-income, single-parent, and limited education families, are even more likely to use home-based care. This Research Note summarizes a study funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation and conducted by Child Trends. The purpose of the study was to better understand the needs and strengths of family child care and to guide the content of professional development specifically designed for home-based providers. … Download this resource to read the rest of the research.
This resource is part of our Research Note series.