Bainum Family Foundation

blog
August 26, 2025

Who Are Family Child Care Providers?
Why Identity Matters for Policy, Providers, and Families.

Unpacking the Family Child Care Provider Identity

Family child care (FCC) providers play a vital role in helping families access consistent, nurturing, quality early care and education.

But who is a family child care provider? The answer depends on who you ask.

Some see family child care providers as a type of early childhood educator, while others view them as caregivers. Some call them Home Providers, while others group them with family members and neighbors who care for young children for extended periods.

Some family child care providers are business owners, operating licensed and nationally accredited programs. In some states, there are two tiers of family child care providers, for instance, some are registered but not licensed. Some have staff, while others work alone, serving as both full-time educators and administrators. There are also providers who operate state-funded Pre-K programs in their homes and focus on child outcomes.

In addition to the various identities, many family child care providers have higher education degrees or some college credits — with many of them also earning the national Child Development Associate credential.

Education of the Early Care and Education Workforce by Setting (United States, 2019)
©2025 Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley Source: Authors’ analysis of NSECE 2019 data.

The Harmful Effects of an Unclear Identity

This inconsistent identity has led to misaligned policies, fragmented supports, and missed opportunities to build a truly family-centered system with clear and adequately funded child care options.

How FCCs are viewed, particularly by policy influencers, researchers, and government staff, has real consequences for FCCs — consequences that these systems influencers themselves do not fully bear. The way FCCs are perceived influences their well-being, eligibility for funding, funding levels, regulatory approaches, and expectations for how they support young children. How FCCs are viewed, funded, and regulated also shapes both their self-perception and public perception.

A Clearer Frame

WeVision EarlyEd offers a different approach by naming two clear and distinct child care options:

  • Early Childhood Education (ECE) Programs (Home-, Center- or School-based)
  • Trusted Caregivers

Each option is valid — and should be affordable for the families who choose it.

In 2023, we asked attendees at the National Association of Family Child Care (NAFCC) conference where they would place themselves in a future child care system with clear and well-funded options for families.

Out of 439 respondents:

  • about 55.5% selected ECE Program: Home-Based
  • about 10.9% selected the Trusted Caregiver option
  • The remaining respondents placed themselves somewhere else in the system (as shown in the figure below).

This data highlights that FCC identity is not a one-size-fits all, and the child care policies must accommodate multiple, valid roles.

Testing the Model in Practice

WeVision EarlyEd Solutions Lab sites are putting this intentionally simplified construct into practice, demonstrating how funding can be allocated to both ECE Programs (including ECE-homes) and Trusted Caregivers — each with appropriate levels of accountability and autonomy.

The recent 2025 NAFCC annual conference provided an opportunity to connect with and learn from our Solutions Lab sites operating under the ECE-home and Trusted Caregiver frame, as well as other visionaries in the field.

“As a family child care provider, I’ve definitely felt the impact of an unclear identity. Some see us as teachers, others as caregivers, and too often we’re dismissed as babysitters. That confusion shows up in policy, funding, and how families view our work. The truth is, we are early childhood educators and business owners — creating high-quality learning environments while sustaining small businesses. When our role isn’t clearly defined, supports don’t match our reality. Clearer identity means clearer policies, fairer funding, and stronger outcomes for children and families.”
Tiffany Jones Precious Moments Family Child Care
“I’ve definitely felt the impact of [an] unclear identity. For a long time, I tried to be what others thought a family child care provider should be, and that left me unsure of my own direction. Over time, I gained confidence in my own pedagogy ... Once I embraced that, my identity as a provider became clear and I have excelled, which benefits me and the children and families I serve.”
Debbie MaysBright Beginnings
“In the trusted caregiver space, precise definitions are not technical; they are the foundation of access. When policy fails to define who qualifies as a trusted caregiver, families are left navigating a system that is inconsistent and often exclusionary. That uncertainty has turned into the hearts and minds arena of the child care access battle. For military families, whose needs rarely fit into narrow or traditional models, this confusion means lost time, lost access, and lost trust. It directly limits their ability to find and rely on care when they need it most.”
Kayla Corbitt Operation Child Care Project

Together, these reflections show that identity isn’t just an abstract concept — it directly shapes how FCC providers see themselves, how families find care, and how policymakers design systems. WeVision EarlyEd and its Solutions Lab sites are showing that child care policies can be designed to support clear, funded, and appropriately regulated child care options for families.

Funding with Clarity

To unlock FCC’s full potential, policymakers, and systems leaders must:

  • Design policies that treat Trusted Caregivers and Early Childhood Education Programs (Home-, Center- or School-based), as legitimate and essential options for families within the child care system.
  • Offer support and funding for each child care option, where the funding level is commensurate with the complexity of their scope of practice.
  • Trust families to choose the care arrangement that works best for their needs.

Family child care providers are essential to a strong child care system, but their role has been clouded by confusion. By naming their identity clearly, we can create policies that match reality, funding that supports their work, and systems that truly serve families. Our latest report, It Is Possible, shows how we can turn this clarity into action — and why now is the time to act.

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