Accreditation

Process          History          Value

For Children:
Accredited homes offer safe, inviting spaces and warm, nurturing care. Activities are designed to meet the needs and interests of the individual children while promoting their development.

For Parents:
NAFCC Accreditation helps parents identify responsive, stimulating child care. They enjoy open communication with the provider and know that their children are growing and learning in an environment that is responsive to their individual needs.

For Employers:
Stable, high-quality child care directly improves employee attendance, morale, and productivity.

For Communities:
Accredited providers help to make communities attractive to families, signaling that children are well cared for and educated during their early years and before and after school.

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The Quality Standards

NAFCC's standards address six areas of quality:

Relationships:
Warm, responsive relationships help children develop to their full potential. Open communications and mutual respect help providers partner with parents for the best interest of the children.

Environment:
The home is welcoming, safe, and comfortable, offering materials and equipment that are appropriate for the children in care and support activities across all the domains of development.

Activities:
As the provider observes children's activities and interests, s/he supports and extends their play and offers new activities and materials to build upon their learning.

Developmental Learning Goals:
Children learn to get along well with each other, feel secure in their own identity, and build competency across a wide range of areas. In addition to social and self development, these include physical development, cognition and language, literacy and math development, and creativity. The provider supports children's play, offers planned activities, and build on spontaneous opportunities to support the learning goals.

Safety and Health:
Children's physical well-being is supported through careful supervision, preparation for emergencies, minimizing the spread of disease, and serving of nutritious food.

Professional and Business Practices:
The provider follows sound, ethical business practices, pursues continuing education and training, and seeks support from others when needed.

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Accreditation Qualifications

At the time of their Observation Visit, providers must:

• Offer care and education to children in a home, spending at least 80% of the time with the children;
• Be at least 21 years old;
• Have a high school diploma or GED and at least 90 clock hours of relevant training, or a current Child Development Associate credential (CDA); and
• Have at least 18 months experience in FCC, regulated at the highest level available in the state (12 months if participating in an intensive training program).

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The Process

The entire accreditation process takes a minimum of 9 months and may take 3 years, depending on the quality of the program, the quality of community supports, and the provider's time commitment.

• Contacting NAFCC to request an application packet begins the process.
• Providers submit an application with first half-payment ($247.50) and receive the Self-Study Packet.

Using the Self-Study Workbook, they evaluate their programs, set goals for quality improvement, and make the needed changes. They distribute surveys to all parents.

Useful support strategies include training, scholarships and grants, self-study support groups, mentors/coaches, home visits, and peer assessment.

When ready, providers submit their observation request with their second half-payment ($247.50). They complete a formal self-evaluation. An NAFCC-trained observer visits for the day to document the program, review records, and conduct an interview with the provider.

• Qualified Observers attend a 2-day intensive training sponsored by NAFCC and demonstrate their ability to carry out their documentation role with accuracy and fairness. They spend most of a day completing the observation.
• NAFCC's Accreditation Commission makes the final decision on awarding accreditation and a letter is sent to the provider with personal feedback.

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A nationwide study of family day care was initiated in 1978 by The Children's Foundation in Washington, D.C. This study was part of their National Family Day Care Project. An Advisory Panel was established, which was composed of family child care providers and advocates from across the country. The purpose of the Panel was to share information, network with the family child care community and to define the scope of needs for the profession of family child care.

After three years, the Advisory Panel recognized the need for a permanently organized voice for family child care at the national level. In 1982, the Panel established the National Association for Family Day Care (NAFDC). Membership in NAFDC grew steadily from the original 35 members to become the national voice for family child care.

NAFDC continued the work started by the Advisory Panel by publishing a quarterly newsletter, providing a toll free 800 information line, establishing a resource and publication department, and sponsoring a biannual National Family Day Care Conference. To date, NAFDC has sponsored seven successful national conferences. The first two were held in Washington, D.C. in 1983 and 1985, and other conferences followed, including: Detroit in 1987; San Francisco in 1989; New York in 1991; Minneapolis in 1994; and Sacramento in 1996.

In 1994, NAFDC became the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC). As the profession of family child care changed, so too changed the focus of the NAFCC. The focus of NAFCC is to provide technical assistance to family child care associations. This assistance is provided through developing leadership and professionalism, addressing issues of diversity, and by promoting quality and professionalism through NAFCC's Family Child Care Accreditation.

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The Value Proposition for Accreditation:

• DEFINES standards of quality for the field of family child care
• HELPS parents and policymakers recognize high-quality family child care
• PROMOTES providers' self-assessment and professional development
• MOTIVATES providers to put training into practice
• SERVES as a cornerstone in state professional development systems

Sponsored by the National Association for Family Child Care Foundation.

The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) sponsors the nationally recognized family child care Accreditation System,designed especially for FCC by hundreds of providers, parents, and other experts during a 4-year, consensus-building process. Accreditation helps providers set and reach quality improvement goals and helps parents and policy-makers identify high-quality family child care.