A Look at Legally-Exempt Child Care in New York State
Asil Ali Özdoğru, Rebekah M. Widrick, and Jessica Klos Shapiro
Legally-exempt care is a type of informal child care in New York State that is exempt from licensing. New York State ranks high among the states in terms of its percentage of subsidized children in license-exempt care settings. Given the importance of quality early care and education experiences on individual well-being and societal progress, status and conditions of legally-exempt child care in New York State deserves more attention and investigation. This paper provides a descriptive and exploratory look at legally-exempt child care and provides policy recommendations after a review of the literature, a survey of a select group of states, and key informant interviews.
The literature shows that unlicensed child care, provided by family, friends, and neighbors (FFN), has strengths and weaknesses like all other forms of care. The quality of care provided by FFN providers shows a great variety depending on the provider competence and motivation as well as structural and procedural arrangements of the care. A small number of studies on the developmental outcomes of children attending these care settings show a mixed set of findings. A mixed-mode survey of eight other states, CA, IL, MI, NC, OK, OR, PA, and WA, was conducted in order to compare New York State to those selected states. Results from the survey show that there is diversity among states in terms of funding, reimbursement, inspections, provider requirements, and support services for license-exempt child care. Interviews with a select group of key informants provided perspectives from different parts of the system including providers, Child Care Resource & Referral agencies, unions, benefits experts, and researchers.
This paper provides three sets of recommendations for policymakers based on its findings: 1) Increase requirements for legally-exempt care to receive state/federal funding; 2) Support and strengthen the legally-exempt system; and 3) Develop a stronger regulated system that is focused on quality.
Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., Widrick, R. M., & Klos Shapiro, J. (2012, July). A look at legally-exempt child care in New York State. Paper presented at the 5th annual National Research Conference on Child and Family Programs and Policy, Bridgewater, MA, USA.
Asil Ali Özdoğru, Rebekah M. Widrick, and Jessica Klos Shapiro
The literature shows that unlicensed child care, provided by family, friends, and neighbors (FFN), has strengths and weaknesses like all other forms of care. The quality of care provided by FFN providers shows a great variety depending on the provider competence and motivation as well as structural and procedural arrangements of the care. A small number of studies on the developmental outcomes of children attending these care settings show a mixed set of findings. A mixed-mode survey of eight other states, CA, IL, MI, NC, OK, OR, PA, and WA, was conducted in order to compare New York State to those selected states. Results from the survey show that there is diversity among states in terms of funding, reimbursement, inspections, provider requirements, and support services for license-exempt child care. Interviews with a select group of key informants provided perspectives from different parts of the system including providers, Child Care Resource & Referral agencies, unions, benefits experts, and researchers.
This paper provides three sets of recommendations for policymakers based on its findings: 1) Increase requirements for legally-exempt care to receive state/federal funding; 2) Support and strengthen the legally-exempt system; and 3) Develop a stronger regulated system that is focused on quality.
Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., Widrick, R. M., & Klos Shapiro, J. (2012, July). A look at legally-exempt child care in New York State. Paper presented at the 5th annual National Research Conference on Child and Family Programs and Policy, Bridgewater, MA, USA.
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