Working Together for Children and Families: Findings from the National Descriptive Study of Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships

The purpose of this report is to document findings from the national descriptive study of EHS-CC Partnerships. It provides detailed information about the EHS and child care programs participating in EHS-CC Partnerships, as well as the activities they engaged in to develop and maintain partnerships and deliver services to infants, toddlers, and families. This is the first study of EHS-CC Partnerships to include a representative sample of the child care providers engaged in the partnerships. As such, the report has a particular focus on the perspectives of child care partners and how child care centers and family child care homes implemented partnerships. The information and lessons learned can inform ongoing and future activities of partnerships in early care and education programs as well as training and technical assistance efforts.

• Most partnership grantees were nonprofit, community-based organizations with experience providing EHS or Head Start services. Some grantees partnered with both centers and family child care providers; few partnered with family child care providers only.
• Many grantees and their child care partners had experience collaborating before the EHS-CC Partnership grant. The most frequently cited factor motivating child care partners to participate in the partnership program was improving the quality of infant and toddler care and education.
• Though grantees and child care partners engaged in many strategies to maintain partnerships, about one-third of grantees had terminated at least one partnership by the time of the survey, which occurred about one year after ACF awarded grants. The most common reason for terminations was issues complying with the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS) and staff-child ratio and health and safety requirements were the most challenging standards to meet.
• Grantees transferred slightly more than half of EHS-CC Partnership grant funds to child care partners. Partners reported many uses of these funds, including purchasing materials and supplies and providing staff training and professional development. Child care partners also leveraged funds from other sources, including child care subsidies and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
• Child care partners most often relied on word of mouth to recruit children and families. Most had a waiting list, and about half used a system that prioritized enrollment based on family risk or need.
• Consistent with EHS requirements, partnership programs offered a wide range of comprehensive services to children and families who received care through EHS-CC Partnership grant funds. Many programs also offered at least one service to children and families whose care was not supported by the EHS-CC Partnership grant.

• Partnership programs engaged in a variety of activities for improving the quality of care and ensuring child care partners were meeting the HSPPS. Most child care partners reported receiving from grantees guidance on meeting the HSPPS, support for individualizing services for families, various materials or supplies, quality monitoring activities, staff coaching and/or training, and the opportunity to obtain a Child Development Associate credential.

The national descriptive study gathered data from three sources:

1. A web-based survey of the 250 2015 EHS Expansion and EHS-CC Partnership grantees that received funding for EHS-CC Partnership or funding for both EHS-CC Partnerships and EHS Expansion. For purposes of this study, among grantees that received funding for both EHS-CC Partnership and EHS Expansion, the study focused on the EHS-CC Partnership component of their grant only. The survey was conducted from January through July 2016; 88 percent of eligible respondents completed the survey.
2. A web-based survey of a sample of 470 child care partners, including child care center directors and family child care providers. The study identified the child care partners using information collected from grantee directors. The survey was conducted from February through November 2016; 82 percent of eligible respondents completed the survey.
3. In-depth data from case studies of 10 partnership programs that varied in their characteristics and approaches to implementation. The case studies, which were conducted in 2017, included in-person and telephone interviews with grantee directors and key partnership staff, child care partner staff, parents, and state and local stakeholders (such as child care administrators and child care resource and referral agency staff).

This report includes results for the 220 grantees and 386 child care partners with completed web-based surveys, as well as data collected as part of the case studies.

Del Grosso, P., J. Thomas, L. Makowsky, M. Levere, N. Fung, and D. Paulsell. (2019). Working Together for Children and Families: Findings from the National Descriptive Study of Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships, OPRE Report #2019-16, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.