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Galinsky, E., Howes, C., Kontos, S., & Shinn, M. (1994). The study of children in family child care and relative care. New York, NY: Families and Work Institute.
This report highlighted the first in-depth study of family child care and relative care in more than ten years.
The Study
- Children in family child care tend to fall into one of three categories: Regulated family child care, Non-regulated family child care, or Non-regulated relative care.
The Methods
- This study included data from 820 mothers, 225 children, and 226 providers in San Fernando Valley, CA; Dallas, TX; and Charlotte, NC and a variety of measures and data collection methods.
The Findings
- Families tend to select providers who are similar to themselves in race and income.
- Parents and providers agree that care must include:
- Safety for the child,
- Communication between parents and providers, and
- Warm and attentive relationships between the provider and child.
- Children are more securely attached to providers when the provider shows sensitivity to the child.
- Children tend to play more with objects and engage in complex play when they have responsive providers.
- Homes rated good or adequate in quality of care tend to have more secure provider/child relationships.
- Measures of quality are not affected by ethnicity of the child or type of care setting.
- Providers are found to be more sensitive, observant, and responsive when they:
- Are committed to their profession and are regulated,
- Seek professional development opportunities,
- Plan ahead for activities,
- Seek out other providers,
- Care for more children and have help to do so, and
- Charge higher fees and follow business standards.
- This study found that only about half of children were securely attached to their provider and only 9% of homes were rates good quality (56% were rated adequate.) These problems are evident in other child care studies as well.
Recommendations include funding for provider professional development and better access to quality care for families.
R2P Evaluation
This study should be replicated due to its age. However, many of the findings can be found in other recent studies, indicating that some issues still need to be addressed.
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