Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/trends-tell-a-story-three-reasons-we-are-optimistic-about-the-future-of-family-child-care/5026872/
More children spend time in home-based child care than any other child care setting (NSECE, 2016). Yet these programs have historically been subject to marginalization within both the early childhood profession and within communities. Dominated by single proprietors, family child care educators face negative assumptions about program quality, even as they navigate policies that may reimburse them at lower rates or assess their quality with tools meant for centers. Despite a decades-long decline in FCC programs—as much as 25 percent since 2012 (Datta, Milesi, Srivastava, & Zapata-Gietl, 2021)—we nevertheless share an optimistic view of the future of FCC for three reasons.
FCC Will Continue to Grow in Popularity
In the United States, we see important new family trends. Families are having fewer children, and children make up a smaller proportion of the population (Washington, 2021). Yet we predict that within this trajectory of decline, a considerable proportion of families will continue to choose family child care, particularly because of its flexibility, nurturing environments, and the opportunities it provides to support the child’s home language and culture.
As our economy shifts, many of today’s young families embark upon nontraditional career paths, engage in shift or gig work, and are less likely ...