Child Care Law Center - Social Policy Research Associates

Project Highlights

Providers valued

clear and frequent communication from the CDSS and the provision of checklists and searchable tools and resources.

Providers emphasized

the importance of COVID-19 as context. They specifically advocated for collaboration on a pandemic recovery strategy.

Providers shared California's goal

of providing streamlined, high-quality service and care to children and parents and pointed to professional development and a more integrated approach to related services–including health, education, and financial services–as strategies toward that end.

“
Across all four focus groups, providers shared that they want a childcare system that respects their professionalism by incorporating their expertise and supporting them as educators and nurturers."

Family Child Care Provider Recommendations Report

In 2021, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) took over the administration of most childcare and child development programs from the California Department of Education (CDE). SPR partnered with the Child Care Law Center (CCLC) to gather the diverse perspectives and insights of frontline care providers who could inform positive change.

SPR and CCLC designed an inclusive process for engaging care providers through focus groups with Black, Somali, Chinese, and Latinx providers and facilitators that reflected the race, ethnicity, and primary language of the participating providers.

The focus groups captured expertise, lived experience, and input on improvement from 45 family childcare providers in eight California counties across the state. Our team identified six recommendations to inform both the CDSS/CDE transfer process and support child and family success going forward and summarized them in a final report in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Somali.