Addressing the "Daycare" Stigma

We have recently been sharing some blog posts related to the chilly reception our particular type of business receives in our city. This has all been news to us in recent weeks, as the topic of expanding our businesses has been at the forefront of our minds because we have blissfully gone along for a couple of years feeling that our neighbors have a relatively positive view of the work that we do. Our childcare participates in community events and when the holidays come around we have even gone caroling and handed out hot cocoa. We are so fortunate to operate our home-based business in an area where people are supportive, friendly, and give us the freedom to allow our toddlers to play drums in the yard. We have only recently learned that our city as a whole is fairly opposed to family childcare.

We have both worked in the field of early education for enough years to not be shocked that our work garners little respect from those who fail to understand what it is we do. As preschool teachers, we experienced the stigma from those who do not value the hearts and minds of young children. We heard comments about how lucky we were to be able to “play all day,” to say nothing of the curriculum planning, intentional brain development, conscious socio-emotional support, and myriad other responsibilities we balanced. “Do you ever think about being a real teacher?” we were asked.

As infant and toddler teachers for the Conejo Valley Unified School District, the lack of respect only deepened as even our own co-workers and fellow educators imagined our work to be that of “professional diaper changers,” while they knew that we completed the same ongoing authentic development assessments and lesson plans that they did. Somehow the diminutive size and subjective “cuteness” of our students meant that we too were to be patted on the head.

When we decided to open a home-based childcare business, our fate was really sealed because we were quickly relegated to the least-respected category of “daycare workers.”

True confession: we too carry negative misconceptions about “home daycare” and “daycare workers.” We have worked very hard for many years, through education and experience, to uplift the profession of early childhood. We have a tendency to look down on those who fail to uphold certain standards within our field. We have some understanding of where the stigma and judgment come from because we read the headlines and hear the anecdotal accounts every day of lower-quality childcare experiences. Despite our own human shortcomings, we know that we cannot support others in the field without coming from a position of empathy. We also know the reality from inside our profession: bad teachers exist at every level. Professionalism doesn’t begin based on the age of one’s students. Laziness and poor pedagogy are a stain on the entire field but they are the exception, not the rule. Here is the hard truth in Conejo Valley and the United States as a whole: administrators who don’t know what they don’t know are a plague on education, particularly in the earliest years of children’s lives.

Research from John Hopkins School of Education shows that the lack of respect for early education is one of the sources of stress that is driving teachers out of the field. This is part and parcel of the childcare crisis facing our community: if we cannot hire and retain qualified professionals, who will care for and educate the nation’s children?

What we call childcare matters. We all know that the issue is so much bigger than that, however. HOW WE VIEW CHILDREN matters. Early childhood matters. Early experiences matter. How we talk TO and ABOUT children matters. It matters from parents, from professionals, and from society. We are bombarded every day by messages that say explicitly and implicitly that early childhood is of no value. We tell one another this. We tell children this.

At Nature’s Explorers, we devote our days to active engagement and play. We are in the trenches of early childhood. Are we professional diaper changers? YOU BET. Do we delight in rocking a sleepy baby, laughing with toddlers, and resting under a tree on a breezy day? We sure do. Our work is wonderful and fulfilling and sometimes deeply restorative. It’s also hard. Taxing. Physically and emotionally demanding. Non-stop. Undervalued, underappreciated, and underpaid.

So we also devote our days to advocacy. We devote ourselves to building up our profession in myriad ways: we host student teachers from Moorpark College and California State University Channel Islands so that we can encourage others to embark on this work and to do it the right way. We are active in the California Association for the Education of Young Children, the affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children so that we can be on the cutting edge of what’s happening in early childhood from government policy to classroom practice. We do our best to keep up with local, national, and global trends in early childhood. We read about the brain, about pedagogy, and we follow the good and bad news coming out about “daycare” every day.

Most recently, we talk about what’s wrong within our City and State when it comes to owning the kind of business that we do. We talk about the crisis our industry is in because we don’t live in a bubble and we cannot stick our heads in the sand. Whether you have young children or not, what happens to the children in our community matters to you because they are the future.

We need to confront the “daycare” stigma head-on and encourage society to understand the work that needs doing as well as the work that is being done. We will open the doors of our business to you: what are you curious about when it comes to in-home childcare? Comment below, send us an email, or catch us on Twitter or Facebook and ask us anything about what we do all day! (We find most people are curious about/jealous of “naptime" so let’s see if that holds true. The second-most popular inquiry we receive is what it’s like to operate this business with a partner.) We will compile your curiosities into a blog post.

About Family Childcare

Since our last blog post, regarding childcare in the city of Thousand Oaks, we have learned that, according to a city employee, residents of the city are historically, “strongly against family childcare.

As mentioned in our last post, one of the requirements in Thousand Oaks when a small family childcare business wishes to expand to a large license (allowing them to care for more young children) is to complete a Notice of Application, which informs all neighbors within 500 feet of the residence in which the business operates. If any residents object, the expansion is denied and the small family childcare has lost their $1,234.00 application fee in the process. This risky entry has dissuaded many from ever applying for a larger license from the state. Within the industry, there is the sense that it is true that our community is, “strongly against family childcare.”

We wonder why this is.

We suspect that the reality is not that the wider community is opposed in any way. It’s the outspoken few who shout, “Not in my backyard!” about any changes to the status quo. They have the time and inclination to object to new businesses opening up, old businesses altering their practices, or other changes to the city that the majority of residents may not even take notice of.

Many people do have strong opinions about what is right and good for their neighborhood. We certainly do! We want safe sidewalks, shade trees, parks, crosswalks, and a neighborhood that embraces family childcare as the positive enterprise that it is.

Why is family childcare good for the city of Thousand Oaks, and any other community? We’ve organized our thoughts below.

Good For Children:

  • Continuity of care is one of the cornerstones of quality in early care and education. In family childcare settings, children will be cared for by a consistent caregiver for many years. The relationships that are established in these programs are tremendously beneficial to children’s brain development. Children who have this solid foundation are set up for success in later schooling and in life.

  • Related to continuity of care is the lower turnover rate for staff, as compared to center-based early childhood programs.

  • Due to the lower ratios in family childcare programs, children can feel part of a family and community group. Lower ratios for infants and toddlers in particular means that they can be themselves and have individualized attention and care that is impossible in larger group settings.

  • Many children in family childcare programs can be cared for in their own cities and neighborhoods. This means less time commuting, which is tremendously beneficial to young children’s health and enjoyment of their lives. Some children are able to walk to their family childcare program in the morning or evening.

  • Less exposure to illness as children are exposed to a smaller population than in center-based programs.

  • Being in a neighborhood allows children to learn about their community in hands-on, real life experiences like visiting the grocery store, the neighborhood parks, or elderly neighbors. The connections that can be forged can have a lasting impact on children’s sense of identity as it relates to being part of a broader culture.

Good For Families:

  • The unique relationships afforded by family childcare programs are not only of benefit to children, but also their parents, guardians, and extended family. Strong relationships like these provide protection against stress and trauma.

  • Parents and guardians who find high-quality, consistent childcare are able to perform better at work. The peace of mind they experience improves their productivity and overall happiness.

  • Family childcare is often a more affordable option for families than center-based programs, particularly for infants and toddlers.

    Good For Communities:

  • There is a childcare crisis in the nation. There is not enough childcare available, period, especially for infants and toddlers (the age group most often served by family childcare). When families are able to find affordable childcare, they’re able to maintain the jobs that maintain the economic health of the community.

  • Family childcare programs are small businesses. We are residents and tax-payers in the community.

  • Neighborhood programs funnel children into neighborhood schools. For cities like Thousand Oaks who face declining public school enrollment and an aging population, programs like family childcares encourage and support the healthy growth of our community.

  • We are at home in your neighborhood every day and we have the training to keep a watchful eye on matters of health and safety. We will be the first to report unusual incidents and the first to offer assistance or have available supplies and plans in case of emergencies.

Culturally, the United States has proven time and again that it does not value or prioritize children and families. In expressing strong opposition to family childcare, the city of Thousand Oaks is sending a message that children (the future residents, tax-payers, and caregivers of our community and our planet) are not important. As advocates for children, we struggle to understand the downsides of family childcare.

Please weigh in. Why would you oppose these programs in your backyard?

Have you experienced family childcare? What are the other benefits that we have overlooked mentioning?

Related: "Finding safe, affordable childcare close to home shouldn’t have to feel like winning the lottery, but for too many parents, it does. Family childcare providers help working parents breathe easy," said Laurie Furstenfeld, senior staff attorney of the Child Care Law Center.

"Communities work when children are cared for. Family childcare providers offer warm, nurturing, engaging care, and often meet the cultural and linguistic needs of families," said Keisha Nzewi, director of Public Policy of the CA Resource & Referral Network. SB 234 also affirms California’s commitment to fostering home-based childcare in neighborhood settings that can contribute positively to a child’s emotional, cognitive, and educational development.


Quality Childcare in Thousand Oaks

Like most of the country, the city of Thousand Oaks and the county of Ventura are experiencing a childcare crisis when it comes to their infants and toddlers. It is not uncommon for families of infants and toddlers to be on multiple waiting lists for programs and to settle for programs that are of lower quality than they desire simply because there are not enough spaces to match the demand.

Factors that contribute to limited availability for infant and toddler care are the unique demands that programs face in accommodating this age group. The ratio must be lower. Legally, it is one caregiver per four infants (“infants” are defined by the state as anyone under the age of two). For high-quality care, it is two or three infants per one caregiver. There are also restrictions on how many infants or toddlers total can be in one space, regardless of the number of adults. For in-home childcare, the limit is four infants. Caregivers must have additional training and education to accommodate the age group. There are also special rules and restrictions for safety issues, including the draft version of the State’s “Safe Sleep” regulations, which require strict monitoring of sleeping infants. Meeting these requirements has prompted many in-home providers to decide to no longer accommodate infants in their programs as they cannot afford the additional risk.

Historically, the City of Thousand Oaks listened to the demand from residents and strove to provide high-quality early care and education in partnership with CVUSD. However, due to the increased cost in light of the above considerations, the District closed their infant and toddler program and now offers only preschool for ages 2-5.

Governor Newsom has heard the demand for high-quality care and education in the State and has begun signing into law several bills to support early educators and to help meet the needs of families. One such bill is SB 234, which requires cities to make it easier for in-home childcare providers to expand their programs from “small” to “large.” Small family childcare programs, as per California law, can accommodate three infants (children under the age of two). Large family childcare programs can accommodate four. Small family childcare programs can accommodate a total of six young children, while large can accommodate a total of twelve. (They can accommodate eight and fourteen respectively when they have fewer infants and more school-age children enrolled.)

Expanding to large license requires childcare providers to meet additional requirements put in place by Community Care Licensing for safety, including a fire safety inspection. Before the passage of SB 234, cities could put additional requirements in place. In the City of Thousand Oaks, for example, family childcare providers are required to apply for a Special Use Permit and pay a non-refundable fee of $1234.00 and submit a Notice of Application to all residents within five hundred feet of the residential home. The burden that this places on small businesses run by families for families has meant that few programs within Thousand Oaks have recently expanded. In fact, Thousand Oaks has seen the closure of several childcare programs over the past two years, further limiting the already limited options for families of young children.

According to the Local Planning Council (LPC) of Ventura County’s Child Care Needs Assessment of 2015, Thousand Oaks was then home to a total of 50 childcare centers and 36 family childcare homes. Of the center-based programs, five were said to offer care to infants in 2015. Thirty-four of the family childcare homes offered infant care at that time. (LPC’s Needs Assessment is repeated every five years, so the data will be updated in 2020.) One of the key trends that LPC reported in 2015 was that Ventura County lost 1,712 total childcare spaces between 2010 and 2015.

SB 234 has passed and will become law in January of 2020, but many cities have already begun to allow for the expansion of family childcare programs in response to the childcare crisis. Stephen Kearns, the Planning Division Manager in the Thousand Oaks Community Development Department, has said that Thousand Oaks will not allow for such exemptions until SB 234 is put into effect. Stonewalling the efforts of small family childcare programs hoping to expand has a butterfly effect on the overall well-being of the community.

While SB 234 goes into effect on January 1, 2020, small family childcare programs cannot simply go from “small” to “large” at that time. They must apply for the necessary inspections and then wait for the government agencies to follow through. There are programs within Thousand Oaks that have already been waiting months or years for their inspections to be scheduled.

For the small business owners who have set in motion the expansion process, this stonewalling could mean it will be another year or more before they can obtain a large license. For parents of infants and toddlers who require childcare, this further perpetuates the childcare crisis. The City of Thousand Oaks could choose to be forward-thinking in their approach and grant small family childcare owners the exemptions required to move forward in advance of the January law so that families would know they are guaranteed quality care in 2020.

Related: Childcare Crisis Is Keeping Women Out of the Workforce