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Successful partnerships between Early Head Start (EHS) grantees and family child care homes promote high-quality care for young children and provide access to comprehensive services and supports that strengthen families in one nurturing home setting by leveraging the resources of both the EHS and Child Care systems, and by better coordinating the delivery of early childhood services in communities. While it may prove challenging to navigate both systems, this strategy holds promise for meeting the needs of our most vulnerable infants and toddlers, and it is worth the effort. To learn more download this Technical Assistance Paper [PDF, 421KB]

Resources

• Tip Sheets for Administrators [PDF, 1.7MB]
  These four tip sheets can help Early Head Start and child care administrators partner together to improve the quality of care for children and help families move toward their work and education goals. They also provide insight into how these two programs can creatively combine resources to optimally serve low-income infants, toddlers, and families.
  
• Tip Sheets for Providers in English and Spanish [PDF, 1.6KB]
  These four tip sheets, available in English and Spanish, provide guidance on why creating partnerships between family child care providers and Early Head Start is beneficial and offers information on how to better serve low-income infants, toddlers, and families in communities.
  
• Promoting Local Partnerships Between Child Care and Early Head Start: Ideas for State Leaders [PDF, 182KB]
  This issue paper discusses the importance of early childhood partnerships, specifically between Early Head Start and child care, that meet the needs of infants, toddlers, and families.
  
• Building Partnerships Between Early Head Start Grantees and Family Child Care Providers: Lessons from the Early Head Start for Family Child Care Project [PDF, 1.1MB]
  This report evaluates the Early Head Start for Family Child Care Project, which was designed to develop and pilot strategies for building Early Head Start and family child care partnerships. It documents the characteristics of the participating Early Head Start grantees, their child care partners, the Child Care Partnership Coordinators, and the communities in which they operate. The report describes how the work was implemented at local and state levels, how much progress was made toward reaching targeted outcomes, and what types of partnerships were formed to support collaboration.

Early Head Start for Family Child Care Project: July 2010-December 2011

The Early Head Start for Family Child Care Project (EHS for FCC Project) was funded to design, implement and evaluate a replicable framework that supports a partnership between Early Head Start and family child care. This project aimed to increase quality for low-income children in family child care homes by leveraging comprehensive services that include health and social services. Read the Early Head Start for Family Child Care Project Fact Sheet [PDF, 213KB] for more information.

Demonstration Project Overview

Twenty-two ARRA-funded Early Head Start grantees developed and implemented individualized work plans with goals, activities, and expected outcomes based on the framework. A Child Care Partnership Coordinator (CCPC) consulted with each EHS program and its child care partners to facilitate implementation of their individual work plan, and make resources available to support this work. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. conducted the project evaluation activities.

Goals of Early Head Start for Family Child Care Demonstration Project

The ultimate goals of EHS for FCC were:

• Higher quality care for low-income children in family child care homes;
• Coordinated comprehensive services for families;
• Support to increase capacity for family child care providers; and
  
• Strong partnerships that support coordinated service delivery in communities.
  

Project Resources

• The Early Head Start Family Child Care Option: Maybe it’s a Good Fit for Your Community - Podcast
  

• News & Views [PDF, 958KB]
  These four newsletters share the journey toward forming partnerships and reaching outcomes related to attitude, behavior, practice, and policy.
• The Early Head Start for Family Child Care Project: Profiles of the Partnership Teams [PDF, 507KB]
  
• Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going? - Webinar 1
• Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going? - Webinar 2
• Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going? - Webinar 3
• Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going? - Webinar 4
• Child Care Coordinator Pre-Orientation Webinar
• Early Head Start for Family Child Care Webinar Slides [PDF, 1.08MB]
• Early Head Start for Family Child Care Webinar Transcript [PDF, 115KB]
• Early Head Start for Family Child Care Webinar Recap Handout [PDF, 39.2KB]
• Handout on selecting a CCPC [PDF, 92.6KB]
• Application [PDF, 122KB] 
• The project had designated a set of activities for both participating programs and CCPCs.
• Select this link for a list of the programs that participated in the project [PDF, 56.5KB].

 

Early Head Start and Family Child Care. HHS/ACF/OHS. 2012. English.