{"id":2163,"date":"2023-09-12T23:09:10","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T23:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homegrownchildcare.org\/?p=2163"},"modified":"2024-02-16T18:41:17","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T18:41:17","slug":"parents-choose-quality-when-they-use-family-friend-and-neighbor-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homegrownchildcare.org\/parents-choose-quality-when-they-use-family-friend-and-neighbor-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents Choose Quality When They Use Family, Friend and Neighbor Care","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many of us at some point in our journey, if we\u2019ve been fortunate, have been \u201cothermothered.\u201d For some, it was a neighbor who met them at the bus stop after school, provided snacks and supervised homework. For others it was a \u201cnana\u201d or \u201cgigi\u201d who lived nearby and nurtured each newborn baby of the family during their first six months. For my brother and me, it was an aunt who cared for us while our parents were at work, until we went to preschool at 4. Sociologist Patricia Hill Collins describes othermothers in her writing<\/a> as women who assist biological mothers by sharing mothering responsibilities for children in both formal and informal arrangements for periods of time. Collins points out that in the African American community, specifically, \u201cothermothering\u201d has been a survival technique for families fractured by slavery and segregation and forced to live at the margins of American society. The concept of \u201cothermothering\u201d<\/a> can also be found in many other cultures<\/a> known by other names<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in my family\u2019s case, many families rely on the support of \u201cothermothers\u201d or \u201ccommunity mothers<\/a>\u201d to meet a need for child care. Though not in a formal preschool setting, those early years with my aunt anchored me and I still have fond memories of them. My aunt provided consistency in my daily experience, she engaged in serve and return <\/a>with me while we ran errands in the community. She sang children\u2019s songs with me (songs I still remember today) and made sure I had time to play outside on her block in West Philadelphia with other children who became my first friends. My aunt helped me to shop at the thrift stores for accessories to aid my imaginary play adventures and she lovingly reminded my parents to make sure I had time in the morning to dress my dolls in their snowsuits before bringing them to her house on wintery mornings. Those experiences with my aunt nurtured my language acquisition, cognitive development, physical development and social emotional development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early learning sector calls these \u201cothermothers,\u201d like my aunt, who fill child care gaps Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers. FFN is a broad term encompassing many types of caregivers, typically those who have a previous relationship with the children for whom they care. They are the grandmothers, nanas, aunties, abuelitas, family, friends and neighbors who care for children. Most states allow FFN caregivers to be legally license exempt, or legally nonlicensed, meaning they are not required to pursue licensure to serve the (usually smaller) number of children they care for. These caregivers may be paid or unpaid and may not view themselves as providers. There are over 5 million FFN caregivers around the US who care for 11.5 million children, including 6.8 million children ages 0-5 (NSECE 2019<\/a>). Further, one in four children in the U.S. under the age of 5 is cared for by a grandparent some or all of the time their parent is at work (ZERO TO THREE 2017<\/a>).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its grounding in the survival of communities, its prevalence<\/a> and the clear preference of many families<\/a>, FFN care is very rarely included in discussion about<\/a> building child care supply<\/a> or in discussions about child care<\/a> policy<\/a>, resources and support. Moving the early childhood policy conversation toward inclusion of FFN care in a comprehensive vision for publicly funded, universally accessible, affordable, quality child care often gets stuck on the issue of quality<\/em>. Some researchers assert that the complex intersections<\/a> of race, gender and class<\/a> in our country contribute to the exclusion of FFN care from early childhood policy conversations and make us question families\u2019 preference for FFN care. Questions often arise: How do we know that there is quality in all of these settings? What are the regulations we will put in place to mandate quality for this care? What tools can we use to measure quality? What systems will we put in place to support quality and to ensure that quality is occuring? When it comes to federal policy and funding for child care, finding answers to these questions in ways that acknowledge the uniqueness of families across 50 states, tribal nations and territories is not a simple task. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, research on FFN care <\/a>and its quality, particularly research that centers the voice of FFN caregivers and the families that choose them, point us to a starting place for the quality care conversation. Home Grown contracted with Mathematica to identify the strengths of FFN care and the critical considerations for understanding and measuring quality in FFN settings. The resulting report, Understanding the Strengths of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, presents a conceptual framework that outlines the key characteristics of FFN care, the prevalence of these characteristics in two communities of FFN caregivers from the perspective of FFN caregivers and the families who use this caregiving arrangement, and offers recommendations for advancing the conversation about quality in FFN care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not surprisingly, among the report findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n