Exploring Innovative Early Programs: Strengthening Family Child Care Support Networks
Previously, we explored how Connecticut has engaged parents to co-create a stronger statewide ECE system. Now, we’ll look at the other side of the equation—ECE providers—and see how Third Sector and Connecticut are designing new systems to support family child care providers.
For the last decade, Connecticut, like most of the United States, has had to address a child care shortage. Connecticut has chosen in recent years to address this shortage by fostering the growth and development of family child care (FCC) providers. Between 2020 and 2022, the number of FCC providers in the state rose from 1,152 to 1,897. This rapid growth created a significant opportunity for Connecticut to rethink how it supports these providers. FCC providers, many of whom are women of color and solo entrepreneurs, have historically been excluded from formal systems of support available to other child care providers. Many FCC home providers currently receive support from Staffed Family Child Care Networks (SFCCNs), which are regional networks that offer training, technical assistance (TA), and capacity building.
To ensure equitable access to training, licensure, and accreditation resources across the state, the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood launched a statewide SFCCN Hub in 2022 to serve as a coordinating super-structure for SFCCNs. By partnering with existing regional networks, the Hub supports the continued expansion of FCC providers across the state by ensuring all FCC providers have access to a regional network that can provide robust technical assistance and capacity-building resources, helping the state meet its goal to expand access to FCC services statewide.
Redesigning the Hub
With a Hub now in place, OEC and Third Sector began evaluating the Statewide SFCCN Hub model in Spring 2024, holding 12 interviews with key stakeholders, including the statewide hub, regional networks, TA providers, and FCC providers, to better understand how the Statewide Hub model can expand the supply of quality FCC care across the state. These interviews helped Third Sector identify three key strategies to strengthen the Connecticut statewide hub and similar collaborations:
- Carefully define roles and responsibilities for all collaborators. The success of a statewide SFCCN hub depends on its ability to coordinate regional networks and TA providers to deliver provider-centered support. This requires the Hub to set clear roles and responsibilities for all parties to ensure smooth collaboration and to check in and make adjustments to address operational challenges regularly.
- Promote in-language services. Many FCC providers are members of the communities they serve and speak languages other than English. The Hub, regional networks, and TA providers must all be able to work together to provide in-language services to ensure that these essential supports are accessible to all providers.
- Focus data collection on outcomes. The Hub and regional networks can use data collection to identify TA and capacity needs among their member FCCs. To streamline data collection and ensure it promotes decisionmaking, the Hub should focus data collection requirements on desired FCC outcomes, such as an increased number of newly licensed and accredited providers and increased provider confidence in their ability to serve children and families.
By continuing to invest in supports like the Statewide Hub, Connecticut and other states can better support the continuing demand for child care services. Other states can look to Connecticut’s work as a blueprint for scaling up similar supports to increase access to quality child care. To learn more about Third Sector’s approach and how it may apply to your context, please reach out to Kesha Lee (klee@thirdsectorcap.org) or Dre Szegedy-Maszak (dszegedymaszak@thirdsectorcap.org).
