Know

Whenever someone enters a new job, they typically spend some time learning about the expectations of their new role. When you think about your current position, what are some of the resources you have used to understand the expectations for your position, and what you should and should not do in your role? What resources or supports have you used to know how to appropriately accomplish certain tasks or job duties? While you may have had the benefit of great mentors, or perhaps strong onboarding supports to help orient you, most positions have some set of rules and regulations that help outline what is expected, as well as forbidden, in the work associated with the role. The set of rules and regulations or requirements for your position or for other positions in your organization may go by different names, and they may be outlined in various documents that provide varying levels of detail and direction instead of in one central place.

Systems of Oversight: Rules and Regulations

When we think about the broad profession of child care, and, more specifically, child care programs serving military-affiliated children, these are some of the key “rules and requirements” documents that outline what the professionals in those settings must do for the health, safety, and developmentally appropriate care of children:

• Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 6060.02 requirements.
• DoD or Service-specific inspection criteria.
• Your state’s revised code.
• Your state’s child care licensing laws or regulations.
• Your state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) requirements.
• Your Service’s or your institution’s instructions, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), regulations, and policies.
• Your program’s staff and family handbooks.
• Relevant accreditation standards from organizations like the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National Association of Family Child Care, and the Council on Accreditation.
• Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) regulations.
• Service philosophy or policy guide.

When you first start a new position, learning all the relevant rules, regulations, and requirements may feel overwhelming and sometimes frustrating. Indeed, research on FCC providers indicates that some providers avoid becoming registered or licensed because they feel overwhelmed by the requirements or find some requirements intrusive, such as when the non-child care spaces of their home must be inspected. Licensing requirements are sometimes listed among the causes for providers’ work-related stress (Bromer & Korfmacher, 2017; Herman et al., 2020).

Recognizing this, it is critical for FCC coordinators to reflect on the importance of these regulations and to help providers think about their importance as well. These laws and policies are in place to help protect the health and safety of children as well as the provider, and to help ensure that child care settings are designed to optimally support children’s learning and development. In addition, rules and regulations help support continual growth and development of each provider, encouraging them to be them to be the best caregiver they can be. Most of the rules and regulations were developed, and continue to be revised, based on research in child development and child care. Some regulations were put in place to prevent future harm after incidents in which children were harmed in care. When a new or potential provider shares that they are worried about meeting all the requirements, it can be helpful to emphasize the supports you have in place to help them, which is addressed more in future lessons. If a provider shares frustration at a particular regulation, it can be helpful to guide them in thinking about why that requirement is in place. How is that requirement connected to the welfare and optimal development of children? As we’ll address more in Lesson Four, you could coach the provider by helping them reflect on how they could meet or approach the requirement in ways that feel more accessible or comfortable. For many policies, there can be more than one “right way” to achieve the requirement. A strong FCC coordinator can help the provider reflect on what options might work best for their home. They also recognize and respect that the FCC program is within the provider’s home, which is often perceived as a private and personal space. Homes are typically spaces that reflect the identities, culture, and values of the individuals within them. When you know that meeting a requirement will involve adaptations to their physical environment or changes in their routines and practices, consider how to have these conversations in ways that respect and honor the provider’s culture and family.

The rules and regulations that an FCC provider must follow may vary depending on their geographical location, the number of children they wish to enroll, whether or not the home is certified to provide care to military-affiliated children, the type and kind of care they wish to provide (e.g., full day, overnight, or drop-in), and whether the FCC home is registered or licensed within the state. When we think about differences based on geographical location, one of the most significant examples is the different rules and requirements that exist among states or territories in the U.S. For example, in some states it is illegal to operate a child care business out of one’s home without registering with or obtaining a state child care program license. In other states, however, the threshold for requiring family child care providers to become licensed varies. For example, some states require FCC homes to become licensed when they serve two or more unrelated children, while in other states, as long as the provider does not live on an installation or wish to provide care to children of Service members, they can care for a small number of children out of their home and are not required to be registered with or licensed by their state or territory (see https://childcare.gov/consumer-education/family-child-care-homes for more information on specific state and territory regulations). While the FCC providers that you support are military certified, it is important that you understand that these types of care exist because you have a responsibility to inform families of the importance of using certified providers and can influence the type of FCC provider they select.

For individuals who wish to provide care to military-affiliated children, living on or off installation can also affect the rules and requirements. For example, for on-installation housing, other oversight mechanisms may be in place, such as regular fire or environmental safety checks. For those off the installation, home inspections are often required, but the specifics may vary. It is important to check with your Service- or installation-specific protocols, as your Service or installation may require that affiliated providers live on installation.

Recognizing these differences, there can also be different terms, often varying by location, to signify how FCC providers are a part of different child care oversight systems. We outline below some of the more common terms used to indicate how providers are connected to various systems of oversight and support:

• Registered: In some states or territories where FCC providers with a small number of children in their care can legally operate their business without approval or oversight from their state or territory, providers may choose to be registered. This typically implies the FCC program is not officially inspected or licensed through the state or territory, but that the provider has registered with some child care support and oversight body, for example, the state’s child care office or their local resource and referral agency. This may be a temporary status while the provider is working toward licensure, and the act of registration may help them access various resources to support their business and family child care work. It may also be a way of advertising their program, as families may be able to search the registered FCC providers when looking for care options.
• Licensed: This term means that the provider has been approved by the state or territory to operate an FCC home. It implies the provider has met the requirements for licensure in that location and participates in inspections conducted by the state or territory. Some states may have different kinds of licenses available that may vary depending on the number of children served (e.g., a small FCC home is often operated by a single provider who cares for a few children, whereas a large home may care for a greater number of children and have two or three providers).
• Certified: This is the term typically used by Service or military-affiliated programs to indicate that an FCC home is officially registered with and endorsed by the Service in which it is affiliated. Being certified implies the provider has met the FCC programming requirements outlined in the Department of Defense Instructions and any relevant Service regulations, and that the provider is approved to provide care to military-affiliated families. Being certified, or in the process of certification, means the provider is seen by the Service coordinator at their location at least once a month for fire, safety, and health inspections, quality program oversight, and has access to a variety of supports provided by the local installation’s FCC office (see Lesson Three for more details).

When supporting providers in becoming certified by your Service, you may not be obligated to follow the state licensing or QRIS requirements for your location. Depending on the jurisdiction that the military provider lives, they may or may not be subject to state licensing requirements.. Having an understanding of the requirements in your location can be helpful when talking with new potential providers who may be contemplating whether they wish to be military certified. This resource by Childcare.gov, https://childcare.gov/state-resources-home, outlines the licensing requirements and QRIS regulations for all states and territories. A brief review of this for family child care regulations and requirements in your location can help you better connect with and recruit providers already at work in the community. In many states, the kinds of programs an FCC provider can benefit from or be a part of—for example, eligibility to participate in reimbursement from CACFP or publicly subsidized child care spaces, sometimes referred to as Title XX—is often tied to whether they are registered or licensed with the state or in their state’s or territory’s QRIS.

What Makes Family Child Care Providers Seek Registration, Licensure, or Certification?

Although the rules and requirements may sometimes feel like hurdles and prevent some providers from pursuing licensure or certification, research also shows that there are several reasons that FCC providers seek and maintain licensure or certification. These are some of the benefits that FCC providers have shared regarding being licensed, registered, or certified:

• It symbolizes they are a professional child care program or business.
• Depending on their program status, they may be eligible to provide subsidized child care to military-affiliated families or families with low-income, which can help with ensuring the provider has full enrollment and provides more guaranteed income.
• Depending on their status, this may make them eligible to participate in other kinds of programs, such as the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), that can cover some program expenses.
• It can help with advertising; often states, territories, or other entities have resources families can search for care options, and being registered, licensed, or certified means these FCC programs are listed.
• It can provide a way to connect with other FCC providers.
• It can often provide access to other resources to support their business, such as free professional development hours, administrative support with contracts or business documents, or free materials they can rent or receive for their program.
• Being a registered business can also make the FCC provider eligible for certain tax benefits for maintenance on their home or other business-related purchases.

What Supports Quality in Family Child Care?

In Lesson One, you were introduced to the conceptual model for quality in home-based child care developed by the Administration for Children and Families. This evidence-informed model not only outlines the kinds of competencies and practices that providers should engage in to provide high-quality care, but also the kinds of supports that can help FCC providers deliver high-quality care. Notice how the “foundations for sustainability of care” includes elements that can help providers do their best work, such as promoting the providers’ own health and well-being, having access to professional development supports, and engaging with community resources.

Research suggests that a variety of factors can help support high-quality child care in home base settings:

• Access to professional development supports, such as training and coaching, especially when these supports are specifically tailored to FCC programs. Providers have shared that they really value when the professional development they receive is reflective of their work and setting, for example, with emphasis on how to support mixed-aged groups, how to manage as a solo provider, or how to create safe and developmentally appropriate learning spaces within their home.
• Materials, such as developmentally appropriate books, toys, or art supplies that providers can rent or easily pick up for free or at a reduced cost.
• Access to administrative and management supports, such as how to develop strong contracts and program policy documents, good tax preparation strategies, and classes on budgeting and money management for small businesses.
• Easy access to insurance and other benefits, such as retirement planning.
• Being part of a network of providers where FCC professionals can exchange ideas and materials and provide emotional support in a position that can feel isolating.
• Having strong, mutually respectful relationships with the families of the children in their care.
• Having a backup provider readily accessible for emergencies, for when the provider is ill, or to ensure the provider can schedule their own medical appointments, vacation, or time off.
• Strong support from the provider’s own family or the other individuals they live with in the home. Family child care often requires a collective investment from the providers’ own family to keep the environment clean and safe for the child care business.
• Sufficient income to run their FCC business, including sufficient pay for the provider to meet their non-business/personal needs and to purchase materials and provide maintenance to their FCC home.
• Participation in their state or territory’s QRIS system or a program accreditation process.

Note that many of these ideas overlap with the reasons why FCC providers choose to become registered, licensed, certified, or accredited. Some of the factors that motivate providers to be involved in their state’s, territory’s, or local installation’s child care or quality rating and improvement system are the very same elements that promote high-quality care in FCC settings. As an FCC coordinator, it can help to learn more about what motivates the providers you are seeking to recruit or maintain and draw connections between these motivations, high-quality care, and the supports that your installation can provide. These factors will be discussed more in Lessons Three and Four.

Unique Supports in Military-Affiliated Family Child Care

The DoDI and Service-level requirements for becoming a military-affiliated certified FCC provider are robust to ensure optimal care for military-affiliated children. However, the installation family child care office provides a unique level of support and oversight to help providers meet the requirements. Lesson Three will detail the supports in military-affiliated settings more deeply, but it can be helpful to remember that all oversight entities (states, territories, Service) have rules and regulations that child care programs, whether an FCC program or center-based, must follow to legally and ethically operate their businesses. However, not all entities provide support in meeting these rules. Most public FCC providers, unaffiliated with military child care, receive relatively little support and oversight from their state, territory, or local child care resource and referral agency. They may occasionally have access to special pilot programs for supporting their continuous quality improvement and are typically visited once or twice a year by the relevant licensing body, but they rarely have a dedicated contact or a more comprehensive, robust set of resources to help them succeed. In contrast, the sole purpose of a family child care office on installations is to provide support and oversight to family child care homes—to help FCC providers thrive and ensure high-quality care for military families.

Onboarding and Certification Process for New Military Family Child Care Providers

In the next lesson you will learn more about recruiting new FCC providers, but one critical aspect of recruitment is knowing how providers become certified in your network and your role in this process. Taking time to reflect on the onboarding process ensures that you are prepared to help providers navigate the steps ahead and understand how these steps align with your Service’s polices and regulations. The graphic below outlines the general process toward becoming certified. As you review this, think about your specific Service and installation requirements and how you help communicate these requirements and their value to new and interested FCC providers during the intake and onboarding process. Also consider how you can emphasize or integrate elements that enhance quality as you guide a provider through these onboarding steps. For example, during the onboarding process, how can you help a new provider connect with other FCC providers in your area so they can begin to develop a rich network of colleagues and mentors? How can you help new providers access the resources available to them, such as educational materials and training on strong business practices, so they have a successful start? Taking the time to explain, encourage and support during the onboarding process can go a long way in helping to retain new providers. In addition, integrating the importance of policies, regulations, and systems of oversight and support during the onboarding process can help the provider understand that these rules and structures are in place to not only keep children healthy and safe, but to support the provider in doing their best work.

Credentials, Accreditation, and QRIS Participation: The Next Quality Level

Although the military already provides robust training and coaching to help FCC providers refine their practice and improve their business, it is important to be aware of other opportunities that can help enhance providers’ professionalism and the quality of their program. Below are several examples of opportunities that can help providers grow professionally and engage in more structured continuous quality improvement:

Earning their Child Development Associate (CDA) or degree in the field

The Council for Professional Recognition offers a CDA credential specific to family child care (see https://www.cdacouncil.org/en/educator-pathways/family-care/) and accepts VLS coursework and other training that FCC providers take as part of becoming certified military-affiliated FCC providers. This coursework can be leveraged toward the 120 hours of required child development training. For more on the CDA process, see https://www.virtuallabschool.org/cda. Having a current CDA credential can support providers that are working on program accreditation.

If you happen to work with a provider who has already earned a CDA, you may encourage them to leverage that toward an associate or bachelor’s degree in early care and education, child development, or a related field. In some associate of arts programs, students can leverage their CDA credential, or their VLS foundational coursework, toward some of the required degree program credit hours, reducing the time and cost it takes to complete a degree (see The Ohio State University’s online associate of arts degree in Early Childhood Development and Education as an example, https://www.virtuallabschool.org/osu-online-aa-degree).

Participation in Quality Improvement Systems

A Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) is a state’s system for rating the level of quality in child care and school-age programs. Each QRIS uses slightly different standards, but most require programs to be licensed or certified and address health, safety, curriculum, learning environments, family engagement, and provider qualifications. While military-certified FCC providers are not required to participate in their state’s QRIS, it is an option for providers that are interested in enhancing the quality of their FCC program. Additionally, QRIS participation may have added benefits when providers meet the requirements at different levels (i.e., achieving a “three star” or a “five star”). Often the subsidy rate the provider can receive is tied to their QRIS status, so they may be reimbursed at higher rates, or receive program “bonuses” for reaching or maintaining higher quality statuses. This can also sometimes give them access to other supports, such as free curricula, materials, or training.

Seeking Program Accreditation

For FCC programs, the most relevant accrediting organization is the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC; https://nafcc.org/). Currently, NAFCC is the only accrediting body that is specifically for home-based child care. The NAFCC accreditation process involves a self-study, an application submitted to NAFCC, and an observation from a NAFCC accredited observer (see more at https://nafcc.org/accreditation/). As an FCC coordinator, you could consider becoming a NAFCC observer, which can provide a pathway for you to become well-versed in the NAFCC accreditation standards. Although you would not be able to conduct accreditation visits for the providers you are already supporting, it could help you meet other providers in your area. Additionally, by being a remote observer you would have the opportunity to see other high-quality FCC programs in action. Many of the NAFCC accreditation standards are aligned with what the military already requires for certified FCC homes, so working toward accreditation can be easier for military-affiliated providers. NAFCC has taken a continuous quality improvement approach to assessing program quality, and, similar to many state or territory QRISs, has established different levels of program quality. Thus, providers can work toward increasing higher benchmarks of quality as they progress in their own practice. Learn more about the different levels and standards within NAFCC’s Benchmarks to Quality here: https://nafcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Benchmarks-2020-English.pdf.

As you think about these opportunities, how might you introduce them to the providers you work with? Are there any supports your installation or Service offers to help providers submit their CDA or NAFCC application? Do providers experience any added benefits by earning their CDA or being NAFCC-accredited? Both of these professional opportunities are structured to give providers the chance to reflect on their practice and current program, and to identify ways they can improve the care and education they provide to children and families. However, the fees involved in the CDA process or NAFCC accreditation can be barriers for many FCC providers. Offering coaching support and feedback as FCC providers work on their CDA portfolio or their NAFCC self-study, as well as providing subsidies to help providers cover application and accreditation costs, can help more providers successfully participate in this level of professionalism. Your Service or installation may recognize the value of these credentials and may provide a greater subsidy rate or prioritize enrollment in FCC homes that are accredited or have a provider with a CDA or in-field degree.

See

In your role, you will support both new and seasoned providers in many ways. Listen as an FCC coordinator shares the process of becoming a certified FCC provider and the supports that are available through the military to create and sustain high-quality programs.

Becoming an FCC provider usually involves investment from the provider’s whole family. The child care business takes place within their home, so often the provider’s partner, children, or other individuals living in the home must bear some responsibility in keeping the child care environment safe, clean, and healthy. Listen as FCC professionals talk about the ways providers’ families contribute to the positive outcomes of the entire program.

Do

As an FCC coordinator, you should be well-versed in the rules and regulations that ensure safe, healthy, and developmentally appropriate care. It is also critical that you understand the elements that foster program quality and allow FCC providers to fully engage in the systems and resources that help them thrive. In your oversight and support role, these are the key practices:

• Know the key documents that outline the policies, procedures, rules, and regulations that FCC providers in your Service and location must follow.
• Teach providers how they can access and use these rules and regulations documents to guide their work.
• Be prepared to ask providers to reflect on the value of or purpose for specific regulations when providers seem reluctant to enact certain rules or regulations. When needed, explain the value or purpose, linking the policies back to quality experiences for children and families.
• Use tools that help you check on providers’ quality and compliance; see Lesson Five for more information on assessing providers’ competencies.
• Teach providers how they can use self-assessment tools to check their own compliance and reflect on areas they want to grow and refine in their practice.
• Ask providers which rules and regulations they find challenging and work together on identifying realistic strategies to meet the rules and regulations.
• Be aware of resources available for FCC providers and encourage and support providers in accessing these resources.
• Ask providers what would make their work less stressful or more enjoyable and reflect on ways your office may be able to support their ideas.
• Show appreciation for providers when they excel at implementing the regulations.
• Emphasize the different professional development resources and supports available to FCC providers, including pursuing a CDA or NAFCC program accreditation.
• Follow-up with providers following home visits to share your observations and discuss best practices, improvement plans, and the provider’s goals.
• Provide opportunities for FCC providers to meet and collaborate. For newer providers, and at least once a year for the established providers in your network, ask them how connected they feel to your local network of FCC providers and seek suggestions they have for enhancing the FCC provider community.
• Remember that although FCC providers operate their own independent businesses, program quality is enhanced when providers are part of a supportive system. Reflect on ways you can respect providers’ autonomy as small businesses while also ensuring their competency to provide safe and developmentally appropriate care.