Associate Professor Corey Shdaimah and alumnae Professor Elizabeth Palley (Adelphi University) and Amanda Miller, MSW (UMB Institute for Innovation and Implementation) have a new article published in the International Journal of Early Education and Child Care that explores child care provider perspectives on how regulation and policy changes impact their ability to provide care.
Data were collected from interviews and focus groups with home-based providers and center-based administrators (N = 55) in rural, urban and suburban New York counties.
Four overarching themes emerged: undervaluation of child care providers, challenges faced by providers and the parents of the children they serve, regulatory disconnect, and discretionary implementation of laws and regulations. Their findings suggest that without input from providers in the creation of legislation and regulations, policies may have unforeseen, inefficient, or even harmful results.
Based on these findings, they recommend developing mechanisms to enable and encourage participation of providers in the policymaking process, assisting providers in complying with regulations and providing quality care, and standardizing regulation enforcement and oversight to better align with the needs of families and the day-to-day realities of providing quality care.
The article can be found at ijccep.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40723-018-0043-4