Listed Home-Based Child Care Providers and Child Care and Early Education Policies Series: Child Care and Development Fund Subsidies
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Key Findings
- Approximately one third of all listed HBCC providers received subsidy funding, though this rate was higher among providers in higher poverty communities, Hispanic and Black providers, and providers who offered flexible care schedules.
- Many listed HBCC providers were not aware of subsidies. Those who were aware did not generally prefer subsidies to private pay in terms of payment amount or administrative requirements and were neutral in respect to payment reliability and ease of filling vacancies. Providers with higher subsidy densities and who did not serve infants or toddlers reported more favorable subsidy preferences.
- Listed HBCC providers in states with the most generous subsidy rate policies—those that paid providers most while asking families to contribute least—were less likely to receive subsidy funding compared to providers in other states.
- Among listed HBCC providers who received subsidy funding, state subsidy rate and provider payment policies predicted providers’ subsidy payment arrangements related to family copayments, additional fees, and the coverage of private rates.
- Compared to listed HBCC providers in other states, those in states with provider-friendly subsidy payment policies sometimes had more favorable preferences for subsidies compared to private pay in terms of the amount and reliability of payment.
In 2019, approximately 91,000 child care and early education (CCEE) providers cared for one or more young children in a home-based child care (HBCC) setting and were “listed” by state or local CCEE agencies. Listed HBCC providers experience three predominant CCEE policies:
- The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) provides funding to states, in part, to subsidize CCEE costs for families with low incomes.
- State-administered regulations set and enforce minimum requirements related to health and safety in all CCEE settings.
- Quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs) assess the quality of and support quality improvement in CCEE settings.
This brief, focusing on CCDF subsidies, is part of a series of three policy research briefs and accompanying technical report presenting findings from the first nationally representative analysis of listed HBCC providers’ reported interactions with these CCEE policies, as represented in the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) Home-Based Provider Survey. This brief also includes data on state subsidy policies for HBCC providers from the CCDF Policies Database.
The technical report for this series provides additional details about data sources and methods, full results tables for the main analyses, and supplementary analyses that support the main results.
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