Why choose Home-Based Child Care?

Home-based child care (HBCC) offers families a warm, family-focused environment with small group sizes and personalized care. Children benefit from consistent support from one caregiver, helping them feel safe, secure, and connected while learning and growing at their own pace.

HBCC providers often build lasting relationships with the children and families they serve, creating a true “home away from home.” Through play-based learning and daily interactions, children develop social skills, empathy, and confidence in a nurturing setting.

For providers, home-based child care is both meaningful and flexible. They have the independence to create learning experiences that reflect their values and teaching style while making a lasting impact on the lives of children and families in their community.

What the research says about Home-Based Child Care​

• Families may prefer the home-like setting and small group size.

• Home-based child care providers may offer more flexible hours, such as evening and weekend care.

• Families with multiple children may prefer for siblings to be cared for together rather than separated into different age groups.

• Home-based child care programs can be a learning environment with activities and experiences that are safe, healthy, and allow for children to work at their own pace. More than half (54.9%) of listed, home-based providers are using a curriculum or prepared set of learning and play activities.

• High-quality home-based child care has been linked to improvements in children’s cognitive,social-emotional, and physical development.

• Home-based child care provides children an opportunity to be cared for in smaller groups and to be cared for by a provider who is responsible for fewer children than in a center setting. These small group sizes facilitate the strengths of relationships and interactions.

• Significant research shows that warm, loving, and home-like settings are natural environments for children during the early years. Home-based child care is the choice of many families because it provides safety and the comfort of home while offering a consistent caregiver/educator throughout the years.

• HBCC has several benefits and is highly valued by many families. HBCC is typically more affordable and more available than center-based care, especially for infants and toddlers.

• Flexible operating hours can accommodate parents’ nontraditional work schedules.

HBCC offers small groups of mixed-age children, allowing siblings to stay together. Providers are often trusted members of the parents’ community, sharing language, culture, and values.

What Families Say about Home-Based Child Care

• ​We know our child will get the individual care and attention he deserves. Not only is he getting education and care, but it is more like a family. 

• Our friends' kids went there and loved it and trusted their opinions. 

• We love the intimate setting, ratio of teachers to students, and personalized care we receive.

• We prefer the one on one care our child receives. We like that he is with children of all different ages

• We were looking for a smaller setting with more one on one learning opportunities, and it just felt safer for our family. We have LOVED our experience in home-based childcare. It's more of a community than other daycare facilities we've had experiences with. 

• I didn’t want an institutional environment and liked supporting a private business owner.

• I wanted something as close to being at home since kids spend enough years in school when they get older.  

 

Would you like more information about home-based child care, or Family Child Care Networks? Contact Kris Weger, Family Child Care Network Coordinator at kris.weger@networksnorthwest.org or 231-357-3336.

If you are in need of child care, you can find our providers at Great Start to Quality or by calling 877-614-7328.