Prichard Committee educating Kentuckians about family child care

In August on an episode of our “Innovations in Education” web series, Prichard Committee President & CEO Brigitte Blom Ramsey spoke to leaders in Kentucky’s early childhood education space about the positive impact that additional licensed family child care homes could have on Kentucky’s very fragile child care ecosystem. The discussion focused on the process to become licensed, and how in the recovery from the COVID-19 public health crisis, family child care homes will be an even more important part of helping Kentucky families access high-quality care for their young children as they return to work.

With funding from the W.F. Kellogg Foundation and local partners, we have been working with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Division of Child Care and other creative leaders across Kentucky to seed new ideas and find out which ones hold most promise for our child care ecosystem. This project, Expanding High-Quality Family Child Care in Kentucky, started with an advisory group of experts, practitioners, and community leaders charged with exploring solutions to increase the supply of high-quality child care options.

With grant funding from the project and local matching funding, leadership teams in five regions across Kentucky have come together to pilot new approaches to increase access to high-quality child care for infants and toddlers and support family child care homes. Through the project, the KY CHFS Division of Child Care (DCC) provides ongoing support to each regional leadership team, providing training, marketing materials, and Spanish translations for numerous documents.

In the recovery from the COVID-19 public health crisis, family child care homes will be an even more important part of helping Kentucky families access high-quality care for their young children as they return to work. Since the crisis began, project leaders have expanded membership on the advisory group to include more business and education leaders who have committed to contributing to efforts to recruit, prepare, and find solutions to provide stable funding for family child care providers.