When starting a career in family child care, it is important to identify the resources for child care providers that exist in your community. Child care resource and referral agencies can provide information about current market rates and can link you with training opportunities and other resources. In some areas, family child care providers have organized into networks that offer training, resources, and group benefits such as health and liability insurance. Joining a local family child care provider association or support group can help you meet other family child care providers so that you can share information and resources with each other. The following organizations can help you locate these types of resources:

Child Care Aware
(800) 424-2246
 

Child Care Aware is a national initiative which can help you find the child care resource and referral agency in your area. Ask your local child care resource and referral agency about services available for family child care providers and if there are family child care networks in your community.

National Association for Family Child Care
5202 Pinemont Drive
Salt Lake City, Utah 84123
Phone: 801-269-9338
Fax: 801-268-9507
Email: nafcc@nafcc.org
Website: http://www.nafcc.org

NAFCC is a national membership organization working with the more than 400 state and local family child care provider associations in the United States. Enclosed is a brochure about NAFCC membership and a brochure about NAFCC Accreditation, a program to recognize family child care providers who meet high standards of child care quality. NAFCC also offers publications and technical assistance to promote training, professionalism, and leadership development and can refer you to local family child care associations and support groups.

The Children’s Foundation (CF)
725 - 15th Street, NW, #505
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 347-3300
Email: info@childrensfoundation.net
World Wide Web: http://www.childrensfoundation.net

CF has a series of one-page fact sheets on family child care issues such as record keeping, tax information insurance, and more, as well as several job-specific books and videos on curricula and child development for children birth through age 8 that may be useful to you as you develop your program. These materials are available in both English and Spanish.

Family Child Care as a Business

Although love for and understanding of children are essential for providing child care in your home, family child care is also a small business, and as the owner-operator of such a business, you will be responsible for many management details in order to be successful in your new caring profession. Some things to consider when developing your business plan include:

• Setting rates: The fees you charge will provide the financial base for your business and your income. Setting your fees, explaining them to parents, and collecting them are necessary tasks. Your child care resource and referral agency can help you determine fair, competitive rates for your community.
• Record keeping: Attendance, medical, and payment records, as well as emergency contact information may be required by state regulations, the Child Care Food Program, and other public funding programs. In addition, these records will be fundamental to filing your federal and state tax returns. You will need to have accurate and complete records to receive full benefit of deductions associated with running a home-based business. You may wish to consult a tax advisor to learn what records you will need.
• Contracts: To help eliminate possible misunderstandings between you and the families in your child care program, use contracts to clarify the rights and responsibilities of each party regarding payment rates and policies, hours that you will provide care, and other important details.
• Liability insurance: Providers are responsible for the supervision of children in care at all times and for the appropriate handling of any emergency. Having the appropriate liability insurance can help protect your new livelihood. The agencies listed above can help you learn more about finding liability insurance.

In addition to the information on funding and financing available through the organizations referenced on previous pages, the following publications provide other starting points for researching a variety of funding sources:

• The Federal Register, a daily publication of the Federal government that offers information on new programs and funding; and the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), an annual government-wide compendium of Federal programs, projects, services, and activities. These publications, available at most public libraries, provide detailed information about federal funding programs by specific categories, including funding for facility development or for programs to serve low-income families. Subscriptions to the Federal Register are available by calling the Superintendent of Documents at 202-512-1800. Both of these resources are also available on-line. You may search the Federal Register at http://www.access.gpo.gov (choose: National Archives and Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register), and the CFDA can be reviewed at the Internet site of the General Services Administration: http://www.gsa.gov/fdac

• Financing Child Care in the United States: An Illustrative Catalog of Current Strategies, by A. Mitchell, L. Stoney, and H. Dichter, is a 130-page compendium of innovative public- and private-sector strategies for financing child care services, including different strategies for generating new revenue and increasing current revenue. Each strategy is illustrated by in-depth profiles and analyses of current state/community initiatives. This free publication is available in print and on-line from:
  Publications Fulfillment
  The Pew Charitable Trusts
  2005 Market Street, Suite 1700
  Philadelphia, PA 19103-7017
  Phone: (215) 575-9050
  World Wide Web: www.pewtrusts.com/pubs/misc/childcare/index.cfm
• The Foundation Directory and the National Guide to Funding for Children, Youth and Families, published by The Foundation Center, may also be available in your local library. The Foundation Center is an independent national service organization established by foundations to provide information on foundation and corporate giving. These publications provide descriptions of private, philanthropic organizations and how to access available funds. Supplementary materials and services in areas useful to grant seekers can also be accessed through the Foundation Center's Cooperating Collections in major libraries and agencies around the country. Contact The Foundation Center at (800) 424-9836 for more information on collection locations, additional publications available, and other services, or visit the World Wide Web site of the Foundation Center at http://fdncenter.org

• The Future of Children: Financing Child Care is a publication of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation which considers present funding and financing strategies for child care and examines possible new alternatives. A free copy of this resource is available from:
  Circulation Department, Center for the Future of Children
  David and Lucile Packard Foundation
  300 Second Street, Suite 102
  Los Altos, California 94022
  Fax: (650) 948-6498
  E-mail: CIRCULATION@futureofchildren.org
  World Wide Web: http://www.futureofchildren.org

There are a number of potential funding sources to consider in your own community, including:

• Community service organizations, such as Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, and Junior League or college fraternities and sororities, may donate funds to projects which help the community. Check your local telephone yellow pages under "Clubs" for these and other service organizations in your area. Also, you may wish to look into opportunities available through the United Way in your locality.
• County or city governments may have special funding initiatives for child care, as may local early childhood professional organizations or child care resource and referral agencies.
• If your program serves families from a core group of employers in your community, you may consider asking these companies, and any professional organizations associated with them, for assistance. In addition to monetary resources, you may wish to investigate possibilities for "in-kind" contributions from these same sources. Volunteer services, goods, materials, or equipment may be offered to assist program development or operation.
• The local Yellow Pages may list "Fundraising Counselors and Organizations" which can provide further technical assistance in your search for child care funding.
• In several localities, special loan programs are being developed to help child care programs access immediate funds at affordable rates. You may call the Small Business Administration (SBA) at 800-8-ASK-SBA to learn about local contacts for information about financing child care as a small business opportunity. There may be special initiatives available through the SBA to help finance women-owned and -operated businesses as well.