University of Delaware receives $1M for home-based child care research

Center for home-based child care research - the Delaware institute for excellence in early childhood (dieec) at the University Of Delaware (ud), in partnership with the university of North Carolina (unc), has developed an innovative vision for the center for home-based child care research (the "center"). Our consortium represents nationally recognized researchers from two institutions of higher education with a strong history of collaboration and productivity. Dieec is well positioned to ensure the Administration For Children And Families' (ACF) goals for the center are realized. The move of the current center's principal investigator (pi) to ud will streamline operations and create new efficiencies for completing the center's many activities during the remaining three-month project period, from july 1 through september 29, 2026. Housed at dieec, the center will serve as a national hub for home-based child care (hbcc) scholarship, research-to-practice and policy publications, support for local community-based research, and mentoring of emerging scholars. The center has five objectives: implement a research agenda driven by ACF priorities and the strengths and needs of the hbcc sector and working families. Produce actionable research at the local, state, and national levels tailored to the hbcc sector's strengths and needs. Enhance the capacity of local communities and hbcc support organizations to conduct research and evaluation in partnership with providers. Mentor a new generation of hbcc researchers and strengthen research-policy-practice partnerships. Communicate research to broad audiences and produce research products and recommendations that inform local, state, and federal child care policies aimed at improving the lives of american working families. Dieec will continue the center's work by advancing the national research agenda developed in consultation with acf's federal project officers (fpos). This agenda includes foundational studies addressing three focal topics related to hbcc supply and stability: provider experiences across local contexts that contribute knowledge about opportunities to build hbcc supply. Preferences and needs of working families who use hbcc settings, including families with children who have special needs. The influence of state child care and early education (ccee) and non-ccee policies, as well as local community factors and supports, on hbcc supply. In addition, the center will continue cross-system research on the role of hbcc in supporting children and families involved in state child welfare and foster care systems, work that began during the past year. This supplemental research agenda was developed in direct response to acf's "a home for every child" initiative. Research on the ways hbcc providers—including family, friend, and neighbor caregivers—support children and families, as well as their experiences within public ccee systems, is especially timely given the federal emphasis on ensuring that child care and development fund (ccdf)-funded systems include a full range of provider types and flexible eligibility pathways that expand child care choices for working families. The center at dieec will also continue its research capacity-building efforts initiated during the first year of the project, including mentoring and supporting emerging scholars and local researchers and evaluators. Dieec is well positioned to disseminate the new evidence generated by the center's studies through actionable, policy-relevant products designed for a wide range of audiences.