Congregation-Based Child Care's Long History

05/12/2003

Congregation-Based Child Care's Long History

"Child care is a loving and nurturing field, but it is also a business. You can do both successfully without compromising either."
–Gigi Schweikert from her book, Teacher Tips

CONGREGATION-BASED CHILD CARE'S LONG HISTORY

The first known child care facility in the United States appears to be a congregation-based program. This according to Mary Bogle, writing in Sacred Places, Civic Purposes: Should Government Help Faith-Based Charity? edited by E.J. Dionne, Jr. and Ming Hsu Chen (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2001). Bogle reports that a group of religiously motivated Quaker women organized a nursery school in 1798 "as part of the Philadelphia House of Industry, which sought to counteract the breakup of families by offering poor women a way to support themselves and keep their children with them."

To follow developments in the congregation-based child care arena, check out Exhange's Strategic Partner, the Ecumenical Child Care Network, at http://www.ccie.com/ECEorgs/index.php.

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.