As Miriam Bravo embarked on the journey of caring for her 2-year-old grandson full-time, she realized it had been years since she last took on the responsibility of caring for a young child. Feeling a bit out of practice, she turned to the internet to find activities suitable for little Tadeo and sought advice on how to support him best.
While she did find some resources online, such as songs to sing with him, Bravo wanted more. She is part of a group of caregivers known as family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) providers. This is the most common non-parental child care arrangement in the United States, yet few options for training and education are available to FFN providers. Most support services in early care and education are targeted towards licensed child care providers or parents, leaving FFNs with limited opportunities for professional development.
Luckily, when Bravo visited a community center near her home in San Jose, California, she discovered exactly what she was looking for. In her community, a home visiting service called ParentChild+ had adapted its established model for parents to cater to the needs and priorities of home-based child care providers like FFNs.
ParentChild+ has been providing evidence-based home visits from trained professionals for decades, empowering parents to engage their children with developmentally appropriate activities, promoting social-emotional skills and school readiness, and creating a safe, healthy, nurturing home environment. Recently, they have expanded their services to reach more children by serving home-based child care providers as well, with evidence showing positive outcomes.
Natalie Renew, the executive director of Home Grown, a national initiative to enhance access to and quality of home-based child care, sees this as a promising development in a field with limited interventions.
Bravo immediately signed up for the free, voluntary, home-based child care model with ParentChild+. Since February, Stephanie, the assigned home visitor, has been visiting her and Tadeo twice a week. Stephanie brings books, toys, and materials for future activities with Tadeo, but her most significant contributions, according to Bravo, are intangible.
Tadeo eagerly awaits Stephanie’s visits and has shown improvements in his motor skills and attention span. Bravo has gained confidence and become a more patient, loving caregiver to Tadeo, fostering a stronger bond between them.
The ParentChild+ home-based child care model developed organically, starting in 1965 as a home visiting program for parents. Over the years, they noticed a need to support home-based child care providers and adapted their model to meet those needs, now reaching families in 10 states.
The program focuses on hands-on learning activities and play, aiming to enhance child care quality and build school readiness through improving adult-child interactions and the learning environment.
Both Parents as Teachers and ParentChild+ provide home visiting services to a mix of licensed and unlicensed providers, with FFNs at the core of their work. Providers learn how to conduct screenings and evaluations for the children under their care, enhancing their caregiving skills and knowledge.
For Gretchen Dunn, a licensed provider in Olathe, Kansas, participating in home visits from Parents as Teachers gave her a fresh perspective and validation of her work as she learned new ideas and received support from early childhood professionals.
An Investment in Caregivers
Home visiting programs tailored for home-based child care providers are becoming increasingly recognized for their impact, yet funding remains a major challenge. Caregivers like Bravo and Dunn have benefitted significantly from these programs, gaining new skills, confidence, and support.
Renew of Home Grown emphasizes the importance of investing in FFN providers and expanding home visiting services to reach more caregivers. With proper funding, these programs can make a substantial difference in the quality of care and education children receive.
Despite the financial challenges, the potential benefits of these programs seem to outweigh the costs, providing caregivers like Bravo and Dunn with valuable expertise and a sense of community.
Bravo reflects on her experience, noting that the program has not only enhanced her caregiving abilities but has also created a sense of family among FFNs in her area. Equipped with newfound knowledge and skills, she looks forward to potentially taking in more children in the future, further enriching her caregiving journey.
For providers like Bravo and Dunn, home visiting programs have proven to be not just an educational resource but a supportive community network, fostering growth and development in both caregivers and the children under their care.
