Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States
NACCRRA’s newest report, Covering the Map: Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States, takes an in-depth look at the services local Child Care Resource & Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) provide to parents in their local communities. The report reveals that CCR&Rs are making a major impact in the lives of families across the United States, serving parents in 99.3% of all populated zip codes. More specifically, the report reveals that CCR&Rs reached nearly 7 million parents in 2006 with various services, including referrals to child care, subsidy payments, consumer education, language and literacy programs and activities, and training workshops.
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Leaving Children to Chance: NACCRRA’s Ranking of State Standards and Oversight of Small Family Child Care Homes
States do not have regulations in place that protect children in small family child care homes, as indicated by this report. According to the report, only one state is meeting 75 percent of the basic requirements needed to ensure that children are in care that safeguards their health and safety and promotes development and learning.
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We Can Do Better: NACCRRA’s Ranking of State Child Care Center Standards and Oversight
In 2006, the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) and the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC) released the findings of their research on the child care center regulations for each of the 50 states. This information provides a rich review of the basic standards and oversight in place for child care centers.
NACCRRA reviewed the work of NARA and NCCIC and ranked the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) based on key benchmarks to see how the states measured up. The results are shown on scorecards ranking state child care center standards, state child care oversight, and a combined score ranking states on both standards and oversight.
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Parents and the High Price of Child Care - 2007 Update
The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) announces the release of Parents and the High Price of Child Care: 2007 Update. The report provides typical prices of child care for infants and for four-year-olds in centers and family child care homes nationwide.
Download the press release, full report, and supporting materials here:
BUILDING A TRAINING SYSTEM FOR THE CHILD CARE WORKFORCE:
NACCRRA’S 12-POINT PLAN
The results of NACCRRA’s national training survey indicate that Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agencies are poised to lead our nation in establishing a national community-based training system. The centerpiece of this report is a 12-point plan to create such a system—built from the existing infrastructure of CCR&R—to improve the quality of child care for all children in the United States. In addition to findings from the national CCR&R training survey, the report includes an overview of the impact of training on the quality of child care as evidenced by previous research. It also contains information about parents’ and providers’ views on training, and an overview of the effective training systems used by the U.S. Military and Head Start/Early Head Start.
NACCRRA surveyed the nation’s CCR&Rs to get a better understanding of the scope, type and content of the training and other professional development activities they provide. Nearly all CCR&Rs offer training, and overall, CCR&Rs train more than 500,000 child care providers every year.
Families in Low Income Communities Lack Access to Quality Child Care
Research shows that quality child care can have the greatest impact on low income children, but finding affordable and quality child care is one of the most critical challenges for families in economically disadvantaged communities. The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) surveyed local Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agencies to gather data about the supply of licensed or regulated child care arrangements and the cost of such care within thirteen communities identified as economically challenged by the
Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Parents' Perceptions of Child Care in the United States: NACCRRA's National Parent Poll
With nearly 12 million children under age 5 in some type of child care setting every week, the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) conducted a poll of nearly 600 parents to find out their perceptions of child care, thoughts on minimum requirements for caregivers, the kind of care they use, including information on whether family or friends and neighbors are caring for their children, and if they are juggling work hours to take care of their children. Learn about what parents are looking for, what choices parents make, and what underlying assumptions they logically make.
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What Do Parents Think About Child Care? Findings from a Series of Focus Groups
NACCRRA conducted a series of 14 focus groups in seven cities across the nation to better understand what parents look for when they select child care, the difficulties they experience and compromises they make, and what in their mind constitutes quality care.
Through these focus groups, we learned that parents assumed that child care programs are inspected for health and safety standards, and that caregivers receive basic training before working with children, when the reality is otherwise. Parents think that standards for child care, such as health and safety standards, and the training of caregivers, should be mandated and enforced.
Parents prefer to place their children in child care programs where they can learn new skills through activities and interaction with other children, in a clean, safe and loving environment - but this type of care is often inaccessible to them.
