More children spend time in home-based child care than any other child care setting (NSECE, 2016). Yet these programs have historically been subject to marginalization within both the early childhood profession and within communities. Dominated by single proprietors, family child care educators face negative assumptions about program quality, even as they navigate policies that may reimburse them at lower rates or assess their quality with tools meant for centers. Despite a decades-long decline in FCC programs—as much as 25 percent since 2012 (Datta, Milesi, Srivastava, & Zapata-Gietl, 2021)—we nevertheless share an optimistic view of the future of FCC for three reasons.

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