In communities across North Carolina, many young children are not spending their earliest years in large child care centers or formal preschool classrooms. They are learning in homes, with trusted home based child care providers, family members, friends, and neighbors who are often the first educators a child knows.

At Families First, we believe those settings deserve the same respect, resources, and investment as any other early learning environment. That is why our ParentChild+ Home Based Child Care work is so important.

As Executive Director and Co-Founder of Families First, and as co-organizer of HBCC Networks and Meck Milestones with Dominique Hughes, LCSW, I recently had the pleasure of visiting two home based child care providers alongside their Early Learning Specialists.

Between those two visits, I saw 15 children who started with these providers and will one day walk into Kindergarten carrying the relationships, language, confidence, routines, and early learning experiences built in those homes.

These were not new providers trying to figure things out. These were experienced caregivers with more than 20 years of service. That is exactly what made the visits so powerful.

ParentChild+ is not about assuming providers need to be “fixed.” It is about honoring what is already strong and adding books, materials, coaching, reflection, and shared learning so children, families, and providers continue growing together.

A Simple Moment That Says Everything

During one visit, a three-year-old proudly recognized a book from the program and said:

“Teacher, my mommy read me this book at home!”

That simple sentence tells the story.

Each child in that home takes home a book or educational toy each week to keep and use with a parent or caregiver. Over time, children build their own personal home learning libraries, while families build routines around reading, play, conversation, and connection.

The learning does not stop when the Early Learning Specialist leaves. It moves from the provider’s home into the child’s home, strengthening the connection between child, caregiver, parent, and provider.

What ParentChild+ HBCC Does

Through ParentChild+ HBCC, trained Early Learning Specialists visit participating home based child care providers twice each week over a 26-week cycle.

During those visits, they model developmentally appropriate practices, share culturally responsive books and educational toys, support provider reflection, and help build everyday routines that strengthen language, social emotional development, early literacy, and school readiness.

The goal is to increase the capacity of trusted home based and informal providers so children ages birth to five receive rich early learning experiences in the settings families already choose and depend on.

Why This Work Matters Now

Parents choose home based care for many reasons.

Some families value the smaller, more personal environment. Others appreciate the flexibility, cultural connections, and trusted relationships these settings provide.

For many families, home based care is also the most practical option when center based care is unavailable, unaffordable, too far away, or does not align with work schedules.

Either way, the reality is clear: if we care about school readiness, we cannot only invest in classrooms with signs on the front door. We have to invest in the homes where children already are.

Home based child care and family, friend, and neighbor care are essential parts of the early childhood system. They support working parents, keep children connected to trusted adults, allow siblings to stay together, and give children stability in the years before Kindergarten.

But these providers are also some of the least resourced educators in the system. Many operate with thin margins, limited access to professional development, and too little philanthropic or public investment.

When they close, families lose more than a child care slot. They lose trust, continuity, flexibility, and community.

Families First is working to protect and strengthen these services by taking preschool to them.

A Call to Funders and Community Partners

We are grateful to partners who understand that early learning does not happen in only one kind of building.

Support from Corning, Inc., The Greater Cabarrus Foundation, Vanguard, Truist Foundation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, ParentChild+, and other community partners helps make this work possible.

Now we need more funders, employers, civic leaders, and community partners to see what we see.

We see:

• Experienced providers still eager to learn.
• Children building vocabulary, confidence, curiosity, and connection.
• Parents becoming part of the learning through books and educational toys that come home each week.
• Trusted caregivers helping children move from their earliest years toward Kindergarten.
• And a system that must be protected before more families lose access to the care they rely on.

ParentChild+ HBCC is not a side project. It is a direct investment in school readiness, workforce stability, provider sustainability, and family strength.

It is also a reminder that learning is not limited to centers or classrooms.

The most important preschool classroom is a living room, a kitchen table, a play corner, or a provider’s home where children are always ready to learn.

Because when families are supported, providers are equipped, and children are surrounded by books, conversation, and caring adults, learning does not wait for a classroom.

It starts in homes.

That is why Families First is taking preschool to them.