Putting the Pieces of the Family Child Care Puzzle Together - Budgets, Rate-Setting, and Sustainability

Oct 15, 2026

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The document examines the sustainability challenges faced by New Jersey family child care (FCC) providers amid staffing shortages, rising expenses, and difficult operating conditions. It argues that public supports often overlook FCC’s distinct characteristics as microbusinesses and sole proprietors. Using a three-hour training session with seven experienced FCC leaders, it explores household and business budgeting, child care cost calculation, tuition rate-setting, and leadership mindsets, evaluating perceived business priorities and gaps between planning and execution.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Better Understanding the Needs of the Family Child Care Community

How FCC Providers Perceive Their Work

Leadership Mindset

Budgeting and Tuition Rate-Setting

Putting the Pieces of the Family Child Care Puzzle Together: Budgets, Rate-Setting, and Sustainability By Rebekka Zydel, Leadership and Educational Consultant New Jersey cannot afford to lose even one family child care (FCC) provider as access to high-quality child care is more challenging for parents today than before the COVID-19 health emergency. Staffing shortages and rising expenses make it increasingly difficult for FCC providers to keep their doors open, requiring these business owners to draw on all professional and personal resources to stay afloat. Despite the critical role FCC providers play in children’s development and parents' ability to maintain employment, public supports designed to help them thrive are missing an essential piece: they do not address the unique characteristics of FCC, such as sole proprietors, microbusinesses, unstable housing situations, low-profit margins, market limitations, and fluctuating revenue (Adams & Hernandez-Lepe, 2021) . The FCC business model has left the child care industry and invested stakeholders puzzled, wondering why, given the investment of resources, FCC providers are still battling financial woes. Why is the goal of stability yet to be actualized? What more is needed? The FCC business model is complex, and the variation in business skills among providers is vast. Business and administrative operations are essential to quality early care and education (ECE) programs (Stoney & Blank, 2011) . Running ECE programs involves substantial knowledge about small business operations, including internet technology, billing, accounting, enrollment services, facilities maintenance, and human resources. Establishing and maintaining business operations of ECE programs enables ECE providers to build business capacity, improve job quality, retain talented staff, deepen community engagement, enhance quality, and promote long-term sustainability (Opportunities Exchange, 2019) . Better Understanding the Needs of the Family Child Care Community Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) set out to understand what makes FCC uniquely different from traditional small businesses and identify training and technical assistance strategies that best align with the FCC business model. Building on the work done in October 2023 to assess the impact of federal COVID-19 child care funding, ACNJ worked with a small group of seven registered FCC providers who are leaders in their community, have significant experience operating an FCC business, and have had previous FCC business training. ACNJ held a three-hour FCC business session focused on four components: household budget, business budget, calculating the cost of child care, and tuition rate-setting. Combining lessons learned from industry experts, participating FCC providers lent their firsthand experience to ensure the nuisances of their business were appropriately addressed. The aim was twofold: to provide anticipated business training based on lessons learned from the ARP Stabilization Grant application, distribution, and record-keeping process, and to learn from experienced FCC providers about their unique needs to identify gaps between traditional small business training approaches and the FCC business model. The seven participating FCC providers were from the state's northern, central, and southern areas; all were women and represented racial/ethnic minority backgrounds. In regards to their highest educational level, two had some college or no degree, two had an associate’s degree, two had a bachelor’s degree, and one had a master's degree. Five of the seven providers have been in the business for more than 20 years, one provider had been in business between 15 to 19 years, Advocates for Children of New Jersey 35 Halsey Street, 2nd Floor, Newark, NJ 07102 •(973) 643-3876 • Fax ( 973) 643-9153 • [advocates@acnj.org](advocates@acnj.org) • [acnj.org](acnj.org) and one had been in business between five and nine years. The sessi

FAQs

Why does the document argue that existing public supports are insufficient for FCC providers?

It states that supports designed to help providers thrive do not address FCC’s unique characteristics, such as microbusiness operations, low-profit margins, unstable housing situations, and fluctuating revenue.

What training components did Advocates for Children of New Jersey deliver in the FCC business session?

The session covered four elements: household budget, business budget, calculating the cost of child care, and tuition rate-setting.

How do FCC providers perceive their work and business priorities?

Providers ranked “a way to help families” higher than “a way to earn an income,” while still perceiving themselves as running a business and often considering enrolled families’ needs before their own business needs.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Aurelia