Press Release

Licensed Family Child Care Provides Care and Education for an Estimated 55,000 Children in 8 California counties; Earnings Can Be Half That of K-12 Teachers, says report

SAN FRANCISCO– Family child care providers struggle to provide care while earning just $25,000 to $29,000 a year, despite their levels of education, training and experience according to findings released today by a collaboration of researchers working on child care workforce issues.

The figures for net income—or the “take home” income made after accounting for the costs of running a child care business—are even lower. Small family child care homes, serving up to 8 children take home an average of $7,874, while large home providers, serving up to 14 children, report take-home earnings of $15,306. In comparison, starting salaries for K-12 teachers in the eight study counties, who typically have more education but who work a much shorter day and year, averaged $30,258, while more experienced teachers can earn on average over $77,027.

“Early childhood experts agree that young children thrive in small groups, in home-like environments, and where they can develop a caring relationship with the same caregiver over along period of time,” said Rosie Kennedy, a family child care provider in San Francisco for 10 years.

“Family child care has all of those quality components— the missing piece is that society doesn’t pay for this work,” Kennedy stated.

Findings were released in eight separate county-based reports on the overall demographics, professional preparation, length of time in the field, wages and benefits for family child care providers. The study, funded by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, began in 2001 and surveyed licensed child care center staff and family child care home providers in Alameda, Kern, Monterey, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties.

The data from this study provides a window into the more than 32,200 family child care homes in operation in the state during 2000. This type of care, usually located in a provider’s home and licensed by the state of California, makes up 35 percent of all of the licensed child care available to parents in the state.

The findings from this study show that the more than 6,400 family child care providers in the study’s target counties care for a large number of children each day—an estimated 55,300 children in these eight counties alone.

Most of these family child care providers have been providing care for an average 9 years. Only 11 percent of providers surveyed had been in business for less than one year. Yet, while many providers have long been providing care within the child care system, low wages and lack of benefits, means that turnover in this population can be high.

Nearly 56 percent of providers in the study had some college level training or an Associates (AA) degree, compared to xx percent of the general population. Despite not being required to participate in child-related training, over 76% of those providers with some college training had completed specialized training in early childhood education. Providers with higher levels of education, however, were not rewarded by increased earnings from their child care business or with higher reimbursement rates for caring for subsidized children.

This study comes on the heels of a national research project conducted by the Center for the Child Care Workforce that found that there are 2.3 million people who are paid to take care of America’s preschool children (ages 0-5).

The reports released today will hopefully provide an important first step toward more effectively addressing the complexities of child care—both as a vital service for families, and as an employment setting for workers. This detailed picture of the child care workforce will hopefully be available for all counties in California in the coming years. Researchers are seeking funding to conduct this survey statewide in 2004.