Thousands of parents in California rely on the more than 30,000 licensed family child care homes in the state to take care of their children during and after daytime work hours.
Though these providers, on average, have more than 11 years of professional experience and engage in professional development and quality improvement, a substantial number of them struggle financially, according to findings from a study led by California State University, Northridge psychology professor Holli Tonyan.
In partnership with the Early Education and Support Division of the California Department of Education and the nonprofit Child Care Resource Center, Tonyan is the principal investigator of a federally funded research program called “Are You In? Family Child Care Providers’ Experiences in Quality Improvement,” exploring the state of family child care in California.