Family Friend & Neighbor Providers: Leading the Way as We Work to Change the Child Care Landscape

One of the key strategies of Smart Start of Transylvania County (SSTC) is to reduce the extreme shortage of child care that currently exists in the community and create an abundance of accessible, high-quality child care with a focus on school-readiness. We support a large number of out of home child care centers in the county and will continue to do so. However, there is simply not enough capacity within the limited number of centers that currently exist to provide care for all of the children in our community. 

While many families choose out of home child care settings for their children, home-based child care (HBCC), wherein children are most often cared for by a family member, friend, or neighbor, is the most widely opted form of child care on a national level. HBCC exists as a more accessible child care option for many low-income families because it is often more affordable than out of home child care centers and is frequently offered outside of typical business hours, allowing caregivers to work outside of a 9-5 schedule. Additionally, immigrant families often choose HBCC as they are more likely to share a culture and native language with home-based providers, which helps establish a sense of trust and connection.

With recognition towards the large number of children and families in our community and beyond who already participate in HBCC, and with an awareness of the aforementioned reasons that many families choose HBCC, it has become abundantly clear that our organization needs to validate and support this form of child care with the same level of care and attention that we give to out of home child care. It is for this reason that SSTC successfully launched a Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) care network in order to recognize, uplift, and empower home care providers.

Our FFN care network is targeted towards license-exempt child care providers who care for children under 6 during school hours. Despite the vital role that FFN providers already play in early child care, they are frequently overlooked and underfunded and consequently the children they care for do not always have access to the same educational opportunities as those enrolled in out of home care. We aim to increase resources available to FFN providers by building a comprehensive network of FFN caregivers in the community to create a system of support. We also provide financial assistance and vital educational resources to ensure that FFN providers are able to sustainably offer high-quality child care that actively prepares children to be successful when they transition to kindergarten. 

We strongly believe that all children deserve the same opportunity to be successful in school and that starts with a firm foundation in early childhood. A focus on school-readiness is a fundamental component of all forms of early child care and in order for child care to be deemed “high-quality” it must be appropriately preparing children to enter kindergarten ready to learn. Some of the resources we offer to increase the quality of care in FFN settings are connections to age-appropriate cultural enrichment opportunities in the area (such as local park and library events), educational toys and books, and gift cards to assist providers with purchasing necessary supplies.  While the learning environments may look a bit different between out of home child care centers and home-based child care, we know that FFN providers are committed to preparing the children they care for with the cognitive, social, and emotional skills necessary to excel in school. Our FFN care network seeks to support and uplift the work of FFN providers while increasing their access to valuable educational resources so that they have all the tools necessary to best provide high-quality care.

Currently, approximately 40 caregivers are embedded in our FFN network and we intend to actively grow and expand this network over the next three years. As we continue to strive to provide a voice and an equal playing field for all providers and children in our community, we rely heavily upon grant support to sustain our endeavors and ensure an on-going supply of early educational resources. We would like to recognize both Home Grown and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation for financially supporting our efforts to legitimize home-based child care in Western North Carolina. Their funding has been crucial and has allowed us to ensure that our long-term vision is able to come to fruition. 

Thanks to the financial backing of both of these organizations, over the next three years, SSTC will serve as a member of Home Grown’s Voices from Home Initiative, which seeks to advocate for public and legislative support of HBCC. Through this partnership, SSTC will serve on a national coalition as one of eight FFN-serving organizations and FFN leaders in order to collectively form and deliver key messages to expand support for FFN caregivers, with a focus on an audience of policy makers, funders, researchers, and others who influence public funding of caregivers. These messages will be delivered through a wide variety of mediums including social media campaigns, community events, webinars, meetings, media spotlights, and advertisements. We will work closely with FFN providers in our own community, relying on their experiences and knowledge to help form these messages and we will empower local providers to self-advocate through regular community chats and professional development and leadership opportunities. Through this, we aim to increase support for FFN caregivers at a local, regional, and national level in order to achieve lasting change in the child care landscape. 

It is our belief that by spotlighting the work that FFN providers are already doing and further building upon it, while rallying public support and pursuing legislative action, we can enact great change in the lives of the many providers and children embedded in HBCC over the next three years. Those interested in knowing more about the Home Grown collaborative and the role that comprehensive networks play in HBCC on a national level can visit the Home Grown website. Providers in Transylvania County interested in becoming part of SSTC’s FFN Network are invited to reach out to our comprehensive network facilitator, Chelsea Stewart, by email at networkfacilitator@smartstarttransylvania.org or by phone at (828) 577-1320.

Written by: Aiyanna Lollis and Published by: The Transylvania Times