In this article, published in the 3rd Quarter 2022 volume of Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Dr. Kim, Ms. Montoya, and co-authors highlight how the impacts of COVID-19 systematically varied between centers and family child care homes (FCCs) and among center-based programs. The research draws from a survey of early care and education programs and providers in California in June-July 2020.
The paper finds that FCCs fared worse than centers in most measures of economic hardship that directly impact individual providers. Among the center-based programs, subsidized programs holding contracts with Head Start or the California Department of Education (such as state preschool programs) were more stable and better able to financially support their staff during the pandemic, compared to centers receiving government subsidies in the form of vouchers and unsubsidized centers.
