Introduction
Accessing
reliable and affordable child care may sometimes be a challenge
for rural working families. The number of skilled and available
child care providers in rural areas is more limited than in urban
communities, and child care centers are widely scattered, thus
center-based care is typically not an option. Many residents rely
on informal arrangements with family and friends. Although these child care arrangements
are less expensive and more flexible, caregivers are generally
not licensed and may lack formal training. Family and friends may
also have limited access to available resources and supports that
can help in their efforts to provide child care assistance. Local
social service agencies can address these concerns by helping providers
become licensed and by building a training infrastructure that
includes basic training on child safety and development.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tools
Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
Web site
Provides federal funds for meals and snacks to licensed public and nonprofit child care centers and family and group child care homes for preschool children. Funds are also provided for meals and snacks served at after-school programs for school-age children, and to adult day care centers serving chronically impaired adults or people over age 60.
Childcare Aware
Web site
Child Care Aware is a non-profit initiative committed to helping parents find the best information on locating quality child care and child care resources in their community. They do this by raising visibility for local child care resource and referral agencies nationwide, and by connecting parents with the local agencies best equipped to serve their needs.
Knowledge Path: Children and Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs
Web site
A collection of resources about caring for children and adolescents with special health care needs for health professionals, policymakers, program administrators, and families.
Knowledge Paths Index
Web site
Resources and tools of new developments and research on maternal and child health-related topics. Includes links to Web sites, electronic publications, databases, and discussion groups, and citations for journal articles and other print resources.
Partnerships, Alliances, and Coordination Techniques
Web site
Provides State, Territory, and Tribal policy-makers the resources, training, and technical assistance they need to build more comprehensive and collaborative early care and education systems.
Resources for Child Care Providers
Web site
Provides resources for starting a child care center that include federal, state, community, private agencies, and national organizations.
RIC's Rural Child Care Center
Web site
An extensive list of planning resources for starting a rural child care center, including funding and program resources from federal, state, and private entities.
Funding
First Children's Finance Loan Fund
Loans and technical assistance to child care and early education businesses, especially those serving lower-income communities.
RGK Foundation Grants
Grants that support projects in the broad areas of education, community, and medicine/health.
USDA Community Facilities Loan and Grant Program
Funding to construct, enlarge, or improve essential community facilities for health care, public safety, and public services in rural areas.
Inactive Funding
Inactive Funding Opportunities -
Lists additional funding programs for this topic that are not currently accepting applications. Programs that are inactive may be offered again in the future.
Maps & Map Collections
Child Care Providers
Geographic coverage: United States
Printable map that shows the number of child care providers. Data source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Child Care and Development Fund, 2003.
Date: 2003
Children Receiving Child Care
Geographic coverage: United States
Printable map that shows the percent of children receiving child care. Data source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Child Care and Development Fund, 2003.
Date: 2003
Regulations, Forms & Other Useful Documents
Child Care in Rural Communities: Annotated Resource List
Sponsoring organization: National Child Care Information Center
Provides resources to support child care services in rural communities.
Date: 08 / 2005
Coordinating with Head Start Programs to Support Low-Income Working Families
Author(s): Michelle Ganow Jones
Sponsoring organization: Finance Project
Examines the role Head Start plays as a support for low-income working families and their children.
Date: 04 / 2003
Employment Rates Higher Among Rural Mothers than Urban Mothers
Author(s): Kristin Smith
Sponsoring organization: Carsey Institute
Describes that rural mothers with children under age six have higher employment rates than their urban counterparts, but have higher poverty rates, lower wages, and lower family income, placing rural mothers and their children in a more economically vulnerable situation than urban mothers.
Date: 2007
Head Start in Rural Communities
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
Includes a chapter from the 2007 Report to the Secretary: Rural Health and Human Service Issues. Discusses Head Start, a comprehensive early childhood development program, and the challenges that face rural Head Start programs.
Date: 01 / 2007
How to Start a Quality Child Care Business
Sponsoring organization: Small Business Administration
Provides information for planning, preparing and operating a child care business.
Kids Count Data Book, 2008
Sponsoring organization: Annie E. Casey Foundation
Provides national and state-by-state information and statistical trends on the conditions of America’s children and families. Includes graphs, maps, ranked lists, and state-by-state profiles.
Date: 06 / 2008
Low Wages Prevalent in Direct Care and Child Care Workforce
Author(s): Kristin Smith, Reagan Baughman
Sponsoring organization: Carsey Institute
Discusses issues of direct care workers and child care workers. Direct care workers take care of people with chronic illnesses or disabilities. Discusses the hourly wages and lack of health insurance among these workers.
Date: 2007
Participation and Employment Dynamics of Child Care Subsidy Users in Rural and Urban Oregon
Author(s): Elizabeth E. Davis, Deana Grobe, Roberta B. Weber
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Analyzes employment and program participation dynamics for rural and urban families in the Oregon child care subsidy program.
Date: 02 / 2007
Rural Families Choose Home-Based Child Care
Author(s): Kristin Smith
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Reports on the child care options available to rural families. Discusses the potential impact of reliance on informal daycare for rural children.
Journal citation: Perspectives: On Poverty, Policy, and Place Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages: 2-4
Date: 2007
Rural Families Choose Home-Based Child Care for their Preschool-Aged Children
Author(s): Kristin Smith
Sponsoring organization: Carsey Institute
Discusses child care options for rural families. Rural employed mothers rely more on
informal non-related care providers than
urban employed mothers.
Date: 2006
Rural South: Listening to Families in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee
Author(s): Linda Tilly, Apreill Curtis Hartsfield, Lisa Parrish, Debra Miller, Valerie Salley, Linda O'Neal, Pam Brown, Edwina Chappell
Sponsoring organization: Kentucky Youth Advocates
Describes results of 12 focus groups of low-income rural families in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee. Topics addressed include economic opportunity, educational opportunity, transportation, out-of-school activities, child care, medical services, and more.
Date: 02 / 2004
What Congregations Should Know about Federal Funding for Child Care
Sponsoring organization: Administration for Children and Families
Explains the child care voucher system for low-income families, and how to participate in the voucher program as a child care provider by providing services to eligible families.
Organizations
Alliance on Early Childhood Finance
Nonprofit/Foundation
Dedicated to seeking more rational financing of early care and education.
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
National organization
Works to educate members of Congress, the media, and the broader public on what is happening in the states regarding welfare, child welfare, health care reform, and other issues involving families and the elderly.
Center for the Child Care Workforce (CCW)
National organization
Works to improve the quality of child care services by upgrading the wages, benefits, training opportunities and working conditions for child care teachers and family child care providers.
Child Care Bureau (CCB)
Federal government
The Bureau's mission is to enhance the quality, affordability, and availability of child care for all families. The Child Care Bureau administers federal funds to states, territories, and tribes to assist low-income families in accessing quality child care for children when the parents work or participate in education or training.
Child Care Resource and Referral (NACCRRA)
National organization
Works to provide vision, leadership, and support to community child care resource and referral and to promote national policies and partnerships committed to the development and learning of all children.
Finance Project (TFP)
Nonprofit/Foundation
Works to support decision making that produces and sustains good results for families, children and communities. Develops and disseminates information, knowledge, tools and technical assistance for improved policies, programs, and financing strategies.
National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC)
Federal government
A national resource that links information and people to complement, enhance, and promote the child care delivery system, working to ensure that all children and families have access to high-quality comprehensive services. Part of the Child Care Bureau, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Federal government
Works to ensure that every person is born healthy and wanted, that women suffer no harmful effects from the reproductive process, and that all children have the chance to fulfill their potential for a healthy and productive life, free of disease or disability. Part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' National Institutes of Health.
National Network for Child Care (NNCC)
National organization
Works to share knowledge about children and child care from the resources of the landgrant universities with parents, professionals, practitioners, and the general public.
Zero to Three
Nonprofit/Foundation
Works to promote the healthy development of infants and toddlers by supporting and strengthening families, communities, and those who work on their behalf. Provides training, technical assistance and leadership development.
Terms & Acronyms
Accreditation (for child care) A process through which child care programs voluntarily meet specific standards to receive endorsement from a professional agency, such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children or the National Association for Family Day Care.
Capacity (child care) The total number of children that may be in care at any one time in a particular program.
Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) The CCDBG is administered by the department of Health and Human Services and provides allotments to states, according to a formula, which are used to subsidize the child care expenses of low-income families with children under age 13. The block grant serves children in families earning less than 85 percent of their state's median income, unless a higher qualifying level has been set by the state. The block grant was created after the passage of welfare reform in 1996, which consolidated several child care subsidy programs into a single, integrated system known as the Child Care Development Fund.
Early Childhood Children from birth to age eight.
Infant A child from birth to 12 months in age.
Kith and Kin Informal child care provided by friends and neighbors or by family members.
Minimum Standards (child care) The minimum requirements of states to protect the health and safety of children in day care.
Mixed-Age Grouping The practice of placing children who are at least one year apart in age into the same child care group.
OST (Out of School Time) Generally refers to programs designed to serve school-aged children of working families during the hours they are not in the classroom.
Preschoolers Children between the ages of three to five years.
Public-Private Partnership A public-private partnership exists when the public sector (federal, tribal, state, and/or local officials and agencies) joins with the private sector (employers, philanthropies, media, civic groups, families, and service providers) in pursuit of a common goal. In the case of public-private partnerships for child care, partnerships typically focus on new ways to expand and improve the capacity of a state or locality to meet the needs of young children and their families.
Staff-to-child Ratio A ratio that represents the number of children per qualified caregiver in a child care program. For instance, Alabama requires at least one qualified caregiver for every six infants, or a 1:6 staff-to-child ratio.
State Lead Agency (CCDF) The State Lead Agency under the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is designated by a state or territory to administer and/or implement, and maintain overall responsibility of child care programs. The agencies also serve as a contact for all child care issues.
Toddler A child from 13 to 36 months in age.
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