Family Child Care and the Economy

This article was found in Exchange Every Day...

In National Perspective (Winter/Spring 2009), the newsletter of the National Association for Family Child Care, Linda Geigle and Barbara Sawyer describe some impacts of the current economic conditions on the world of family child care...

"Family child care programs all over the country are struggling to maintain their businesses while they continue to provide high quality services. Some providers are finding it necessary to reduce rates while others are expanding their services to include hours they are not currently operating. Some family child care providers have the flexibility to offer part-time services or to adapt schedules by opening earlier or closing later to meet different needs of their clients.

"An additional impact is the increase in the number of people offering family child care. Rita Khouri, Pitter Patter Daycare, an NAFCC Accredited program, shares that many women are trying child care as an option to supplement their household income. 'With so many women out of work, home daycare is booming with many women trying it out.' While some of these new caregivers enter the regulated family child care community, many do not. In some communities the child care market becomes saturated with family child care — both legal and illegal. This is an added stress for family child care providers who may already be struggling to fill all of their child care openings."

To find out about the regulations for family child care homes in Indiana follow this link. http://www.childcareanswers.com/facilityregulations.html