Excerpts from the report:

This report examines state and local policies and programs designed to improve the quality of family child care. For the purposes of this report, family child care is defined as a provider caring for two or more unrelated children in the provider's home. In the United States, more than 1.4 million children are cared for by family child care providers. The quality of family child care, however, varies greatly.

A number of states and communities have initiated promising efforts to improve the quality of care delivered in family child care homes. This report documents local and state efforts to improve family child care quality with two purposes in mind: first, to aid policymakers, program administrators, and advocates in developing policies and programs that promote quality child care for children in family child care settings; and second, to contribute to the replication of successful programs and policies.

This study used a combination of methods, including literature review, interviews with early care and education experts and program administrators, and document collection.