Written by Eboni Delaney, Director of Policy and Movement Building For Kathryn Baker, family child care began with family. After graduating from Marshall University with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Kathryn began managing a retail store. Meanwhile, her husband had started caring for friends’ children while their parents worked. What began as helping a few…
Written by Eboni Delaney, Director of Policy and Movement Building When Chantal and Harold Hinds first learned they were pregnant, one of the first pieces of advice they received was a recommendation for a family child care program. “After the congratulations, it was, you have to take your baby to our child care provider.” The…
Written by Eboni Delaney, Director of Policy and Movement Building When asked why she chose family child care, Lenise Parker answers without hesitation: “Family child care chose me.” It is a response that defines her entire approach to the field, blending her deep-seated commitment, community support, and an intuitive understanding of what families need. Long…
Written By Eboni Delaney, Director of Policy and Movement Building When Angelique Speight-Marshall became a mother in 1992, she did not set out to start a business. She set out to care for her daughter. “I was a new mother raising a daughter with special needs,” she recalls. “Finding child care that truly understood her…
Eboni Delaney, Director of Policy and Movement Building Svitlana Uniyat arrived in the United States from Ukraine in 1999 with a lifelong commitment to education. In Ukraine, she worked across elementary, middle, high school, and college settings, with experience in education, psychology, and social work. After immigrating to the U.S. and becoming a mother, she…
Written by Eboni Delaney, Interim Director of Policy and Movement Building, NAFCC “I want to know what I can do to get more Indiana family child care educators involved.” For the past seven years, Deondra Stewart has provided steady and reliable care to children and families in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She operates a family child…
Written by Eboni Delaney, Interim Director of Policy and Movement Building, NAFCC “We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For” When Trina D. Averette says, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” the words don’t come from a place of theory — they rise from lived experience. For nearly three decades, Trina has opened…
Written by Eboni Delaney, Interim Director of Policy and Movement Building “I realized I was more than a daycare. I was an educator, a social worker, and an advocate.” When you meet Olga Grays, you quickly understand her story is about more than opening a child care program. It is about resilience, community, and leadership.…
Written by Eboni Delaney, Interim Director of Policy and Movement Building “It’s a sad day for early education in Arkansas.” Across the country, family child care educators are sounding the alarm. The stability of care is being chipped away, community by community, and the very foundation of child care is at risk. In state after…
By Eboni Delaney, Interim Director of Policy and Movement Building, NAFCC “I have no regrets. This journey has been full of laughter, joy, and upside-down wonders.” For Carolyn Collins, a veteran early childhood educator in St. Paul, Minnesota, family child care began as a temporary solution, but it grew into a lifelong calling. What started…
Written by Eboni Delaney, Assistant Director of Narrative and Movement Building “She passed at 8 1/2 months, and I continued this work in her name.” For over three decades, Mrs. Ollie Anderson has provided family child care in Miami Gardens, Florida, opening her doors and heart to children and families needing it most. But her…
Written by Eboni Delaney, Assistant Director of Narrative and Movement Building “Family child care literally saved my life.” Adrianne Moore has been a family child care educator in Los Angeles for over 37 years. As the owner of Moore Family Childcare, operating as A Home for Us Family Childcare, she has created a space where…
By Eboni Delaney, Assistant Director of Narrative and Movement Building On May 31, 2023, Cheryl Morman, a family child care educator, advocate, and community leader from Virginia, stood before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and told a story that far too many educators know by heart. It is the story…
At Overcomer Kids 3E’s, family child care isn’t just a profession—it’s a purpose, a calling, and a legacy. Christina and Tarris Brown have built their program over the past 14 years as a faith-based home dedicated to encouraging, empowering, and edifying children and families in their community.
By Eboni Delaney, Assistant Director of Narrative and Movement Building Across the country, family child care (FCC) educators quietly carry the emotional and structural weight of our early learning system. They are the steady hands in times of crisis, the first to greet children each morning, and often the only stable point in a family’s…