Foundation for Child Development Grants in Action

Erikson Institute’s Pre-K in Family Child Care Project (PKFCC) promotes opportunities to ensure equitable access to high-quality early learning settings for children and families.

A Transformative Vision for the Authentic Inclusion of Family Child Care in Mixed-Delivery Pre-K Systems is the latest PKFCC report. It details the strengths of responsive and accessible family child care (FCC) programs and their potential to enhance mixed-delivery pre-kindergarten systems. It also includes the components of successful implementation and design to adequately engage and support FCC educators who are a key component of high-quality programs and positive child outcomes.

Erikson Institute initially explored the reasons contributing to a steady decline of FCC provider engagement and retention in the early care and education workforce. Its PKFCC report, The Shifting Supply of Regulated Family Child Care in The U.S.: A Literature Review and Conceptual Model, examined research on potential factors that shape job tenure such as provider and program characteristics, systems participation, and parent perspectives on child care preference.

This work also included a qualitative study that can inform policymakers’ efforts to enact system changes at local and state levels and equip key stakeholders with engagement and retention strategies that better support these professionals.

The Understanding the Shifting Supply of Regulated Family Child Care in the U.S. PKFCC policy brief offers detailed recommendations to address the decline in FCC providers using the literature review findings and the conceptual model.