Applying an Equity Lens to the Child Care Setting

Abstract

In the current landscape, child care is increasingly being seen as a place for early education, and systems are largely bundling child care in the Early Care and Education sphere through funding and quality measures. As states define school readiness and quality, they often miss critical elements, such as equitable access to quality and cultural traditions. This article provides a summary of the various definitions and structures of child care. It also discusses how the current child care policy conversation can and ought to be infused with a framework grounded in the context of institutional racism and trauma. Models and examples will explore the differences between state government regulations, and how those differ than the regulation and structure of child care in Indian Country.

Physical, Mental, and Financial Stress Impacts of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Educators

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic early childhood educators were deemed “essential” by many government organizations. The early childhood care and education (ECCE) workforce serves children from birth through 8 years of age through several early learning program options for families: child care centers that can be for profit or non-profit, Early Head Start and Head Start programs that are funded through child care grants and federal government supports, as well as licensed home child care programs and unlicensed-registered ministries (Scott et al, 2017 ). While some early learning programs stayed open or even increased enrollment due to school age children enrolling during school closures, others had marked decreases in enrollment and/or closures.…”

The health status of the early care and education workforce in the USA: a scoping review of the evidence and current practice

“…system in the USA serves children from birth through 6 years of age and includes several program types: child care centers that can be for-profit or non-profit, Early Head Start and Head Start Programs that are funded through grants from the federal government to serve children from low-income households, pre-kindergarten programs available in some jurisdictions for children age 3-4 years and family child care programs where a small number of children receive care from one or more adults in a home setting [2]. The ECE workforce that supports this system is comprised of populations that are considered higher risk for chronic disease.…”

Nutrition Standards For Infants and Young Children can be Implemented by Family Child Care Home Providers

“…Because FCCHs serve a larger proportion of lowincome families of color than childcare centers, 8 and because children from low-income families experience higher rates of food insecurity, poor diet quality and obesity than children with access to more resources, [11][12][13][14] FCCHs represent an optimal setting for addressing health disparities. However, the few existing intervention studies involving FCCH have recognized inherent challenges in improving nutrition practices.…”

“…8 California has the highest rate of children under 6 years of age living in poverty (23%) 9 and the largest proportion of Latinx residents (39%). 10 Compared to non-Latinx white residents, the Latinx population suffers from greater health inequities, such as food insecurity, affordability, and access, 11,12 and prevalance of obesity. 13,14 The aim of this pilot was to evaluate the feasibility of training English- and Spanish-speaking FCCH providers on nutrition standards with the hypothesis that a training would be well accepted and that providers would improve adherence to nutrition standards after the training.…”