Family Childcare Accreditation

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The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) sponsors the nationally recognized family childcare accreditation system, designed especially for the NAFCC by hundreds of providers, parents, and other experts during a four-year, consensus-building process. Accreditation helps providers set and reach quality improvement goals and helps parents and policymakers identify high-quality family childcare.

NAFCC’s standards address five areas of quality:

• Relationships

The most important aspect of a high-quality family childcare program is its human relationships. Providers set the emotional climate of the program. Good-quality relations with the children and their families form the foundation of support needed for great experiences. Children thrive when they feel nurtured and appreciated and have a sense of belonging to a group that is part of a community. All kinds of development are supported in the context of warm, responsive human relationships.

• Environment

The next important aspect of quality in family childcare is the environment. The provider’s home is welcoming and comfortable, with enough materials and equipment to engage children’s interest in a variety of ways, supporting their activities across all the domains of development.

• Developmental Learning Activities

Children’s spontaneous play is ideally suited to helping them practice their developing skills and gain understanding of their world. As the provider observes their activities and interests, she supports and extends their play and offers new activities and materials to build upon their learning.

The early years are a prime time for children’s development. Most basic is learning to get along well with others and to feel secure in one’s own identity. From infancy through the school years, children are capable of learning and building competency across a wide range of areas. These include physical development, cognition and language, social and self-development, and creative development. A high-quality provider has individualized goals for each child as well as goals for the group as a whole. She plans activities and builds on spontaneous opportunities to support these learning goals.

• Safety and Health

Children’s physical well-being is assured through careful supervision, preparation for emergencies, minimizing the spread of disease, and serving of nutritious food.

• Professional and Business Practices

As a small business owner, the provider is ethical and caring in relations with children and families. The provider’s contracts and policies are sound. The provider is reflective and intentional about her work, seeking continuing education and support from others. The provider abides by legal requirements and makes use of resources in the community.

Information from www.nafcc.org/accreditation.