Funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, the Child & Family Data Archive has released the 2017 Child Care Licensing Study. The study covers collected information about child care licensing programs and policies as well as facility requirements, including facility monitoring, enforcement of licensing regulations, and licensing program staff. Data were collected from child care centers, group child care homes, and family child care homes for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Limited data were also collected for U.S. territories.

This fact sheet defines two-generation and whole-family approaches that simultaneously provide services and opportunities to both children and the adults in their lives. The fact sheet also includes summaries and links to resources on 5 key components of the two-generation approach: Postsecondary Education and Employment Pathways; Early Childhood Education and Development; Economic Assets; Health and Well-Being; and Social Capital.

This issue brief highlights three areas to consider in developing workforce policies for young parents between the age of 18 and 24 in a post-pandemic world. These touchstones include: accelerated pathways, such as Integrated Education and Training, Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, and guided pathways to focus on skill gaps to prepare for in-demand jobs; expansion of digital inclusion programs to address disparities in broadband access, availability of digital devices, and computer literacy skills; and provision of high-quality childcare for workforce program participants.

This issue brief analyzes characteristics of the early care and education (ECE) workforce in Arkansas and identifies research on the correlation between high-quality ECE and child development, as well as ECE providers’ emotional well-being. The brief focuses on variance of the ECE workforce by region or in terms of rural versus urban relative to teachers’ and caregivers’ self-reports of well-being, economic pressures, and education levels. Also highlighted are the factors that stakeholders identify as contributing to the variation of these characteristics across the state.

This tool relies on state-provided or other public data to support early childhood stakeholders in calculating the funds needed to increase early childhood workforce qualifications. The calculator enables the user to set the program type (for example, Head Start, Pre-K, or other center-based programs), child age group (infant-toddler and/or pre-K), and teacher category (lead and/or assistant teacher). Other data to be inputted include number of early childhood educators, current educational qualifications of the existing workforce; whether the teacher has the required credentials; and average tuition costs, on a statewide basis, for two-year and four-year degree programs.

This two-part research-to-practice brief covers the process of building Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP). These partners expand access to quality early childhood care and education programs for infants, toddlers, and their families, while also providing participating children and families with comprehensive health, developmental, and family support services through the partnerships. Drawing on interviews and convenings, the first part offers lessons learned from six partnerships on considerations when forming EHS-CC partnerships and developing contractual agreements among providers. The second part of the brief includes additional resources, summaries of successful partnership agreements, and expectations in the partnership agreement development process.

This brief assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on kinship care; it also defines kinship care and the role that kinship caregivers play in their respective families. Ways to support kinship caregivers are illustrated, including increased funding support and temporary changes in licensing requirements.

This blogpost illustrates the challenges of accessing child care during the COVID-19 pandemic among different groups of parents -– essential workers, parents working from home and struggling to balance family and job responsibilities, and parents who may have income changes that affected their eligibility under federal Child Care Development Fund vouchers. The blogpost also identifies challenges facing child care providers as they implement new safety procedures and adjust to the shifting needs of their clients. The blogpost synthesizes earlier research findings of studies from the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency project and offers five strategies, drawn from innovative child care agencies, to address the need for increased access to child care in a pandemic work environment.

This Child Trends two-brief series highlights information on access to care for homeless children and families. The first brief, Facilitating Access to Early Care and Education for Children Experiencing Homelessness, covers barriers to accessing early care and education among families experiencing homelessness and how states and communities can increase early care and education enrollment of children experiencing homelessness. The second brief, Leveraging Data to Identify Children Experiencing Homelessness, points to the challenges that states and communities encounter when using data to identify children experiencing homelessness who need early care and education.

This U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation report illustrates how much loss in economic activity results from breakdowns in childcare and early childhood education in Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania. The report also covers the causes of childcare challenges and how parents choose childcare providers. There are also findings on what types of childcare benefits working parents would like to receive from employers to close the gap in accessing early childhood education.