Appendix G Frequently asked questions

Appendix G

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Who can participate in the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study?

People are eligible to participate in the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study if they are a home-based child care (HBCC) provider who regularly cares for at least one school-age child (age 5 and in kindergarten, or ages 6 through 12), meaning they care for the school-age child(ren) who is not their own at least 10 hours per week and for at least 8 weeks in the past year. These providers may also care for under school-age children (ages birth through 5 and not yet in kindergarten). Providers must be at least 18 years old.

A home-based provider is someone who regularly cares for children other than their own in a home. This includes being a licensed family child care (FCC) provider, or someone who cares for their family, friend, or neighbor’s (FFN) child(ren); for example, a relative like a grandma/grandpa or auntie/uncle, elders, friends, or neighbors.

Families of eligible home-based providers may also participate in the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study if they have a school-age child in the provider’s care, are at least 18 years old, and are the person most responsible for the care of the school-age child when the child is not in the provider’s care (for example, the child’s parent or guardian).

What does participation in the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study involve?

Potential study participants will participate in a call with a member of the study team to determine the provider’s interest in and eligibility for the study. Once participation is confirmed, a provider will be asked to complete the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaire, estimated to take 50 minutes and distribute and collect family surveys to and from their families with school-age children. A selection of providers will also be observed caring for school-age children by a trained observer.

What languages is the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit available in?

For the purposes of this study, the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaire and the family survey are only available in English. Future research may be conducted on the Spanish version of the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit.

All providers who would like to participate in the study should be comfortable completing the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaire in English electronically (using a computer or smart phone), via a paper version, or over the phone with a trained interviewer. All families who would like to participate in the study should be comfortable completing the family survey in English electronically, via a paper version, or over the phone with a trained interviewer.

Why did the study team create the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit and ask providers and families try it out?

The HBCC-NSAC Toolkit was created specifically for home-based child care (HBCC) providers who regularly care for at least one school-age child (age 5 and in kindergarten, or ages 6 through 12) to help providers reflect on their caregiving strengths and areas of growth.

Most existing measures used in HBCC settings were originally made for child care providers and teachers that work in center-based child care and early education. Also, many of the measures focus on children before they reach school age, or children across age groups.

Home-based providers and staff who work with them would like low-cost and easy to use tools that are made for them. The study team is developing the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit with these points in mind. Providers can use the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit on their own or with another person (such as a mentor, coach, or peer).

Since this is a new toolkit, it is important that we try it out with many home-based providers and get input from families with children in HBCC. The lessons we learn from providers and families will help us understand whether the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit supports home-based providers and how it compares to other available HBCC measures. Our hope is to make this toolkit available more widely in the future.

[IF OBSERVATION SITE: What is the observation visit?

The observation visits will help us understand how providers care for children for this study. The observation visit is completely voluntary. We will work with providers to schedule the visit at a time that is convenient and when they are caring for at least 1 school-aged child. During the visit, a trained observer from the study team will be at the provider’s home for 3 to 4 hours on the scheduled day. Observers will observe a typical day with school-age children and will not ask the provider or children to do anything different from their normal routine. They will try to stay out of the way and will not interact with children. We will provide a notification letter that providers can share with parents if they choose. Information from the visit will be used to help us understand how providers care for children for this study and will not be shared or used for monitoring or assessment purposes. Information from the visit will be kept private to the full extent allowed by law.]

Why was the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit created for home-based providers who work with at least one school-aged child?

National data shows that many home-based providers take care of at least one school-aged child (age 5 and in kindergarten, or ages 6 through 12) and also care for children in multiple age groups (infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-aged). However, many measures used in HBCC are not made specifically for school-aged children or mixed-aged groups, so the study team created the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit to fill this gap.

Why should home-based providers use the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit?

The goal of the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit is to help providers identify caregiving strengths and areas for growth. Home-based providers can use the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit on their own to learn about how they support children in their care. For example, home-based providers can use the provider questionnaire to identify practices that support school-age children’s social and emotional development, behavior management, learning, and health and physical development.

Home-based providers can also talk about the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit with someone else like a coach, mentor, or fellow home-based provider. It is not meant to monitor or evaluate home-based providers or children.

Why should families participate in the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study?

As part of the study, participating providers will give families with school-age children a 15 minute family survey to complete. The family survey asks about families’ experiences having child(ren) in home-based care. Getting family perspectives is a critical part of validating the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaires. Respondents will receive $15 in gift cards as a thank you.

What happens to the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit after the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study?

The HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study will help us understand whether the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit supports home-based providers and how it compares to other available HBCC measures. Our hope is to make this toolkit available more widely in the future.

Why does the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit include questions about how providers support children’s racial and ethnic identities?

Home-based providers are important for supporting how school-age children understand their identities and how all children develop their own racial and ethnic identities. Young children often explore their racial and ethnic identities as they grow older and interact with others and the world. For some children, the time they spend in home-based care provides them with a place that they can feel safe and experience joy. For children who have negative experiences at school, it can be a place where these children can experience healing.

The HBCC-NSAC Toolkit will help providers think about how their practices support positive racial and ethnic socialization (how children learn about race and ethnicity), which includes helping to build positive racial and ethnic identities and using practices that reflect different cultures and support children’s development. The provider questionnaire includes questions about sharing positive messages, imagery, and stories about children’s racial and ethnic identities as well as other practices to help children learn and explore their curiosities about their own and other races, ethnicities, and cultures.

How will the study team keep providers' contact information safe?

Information gathered for this study is for research purposes only and will be kept private to the full extent allowed by law. The names of child care providers, children and family members will never appear in any published reports. The study team will enter data collected into a secure electronic database. To protect providers’ identities and sensitive information, we will use numbers to identify those who participate in the study internally. Encrypted files containing the name and contact information of providers will be stored in our secure project folder on a secure server physically located in our company’s office. Only a limited number of project staff will have access to this information. Before the project ends, our team will discuss the secure destruction of all data, including backups.

Where can people find more information about the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit and HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study?

Please see the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study flyer that was attached to your email from the study team.

The HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study is part of the Home-Based Child Care Supply and Quality project. The project is funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You can find information about the Home-Based Child Care Supply and Quality project on the project’s website: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/project/home-based-child-care-supply-and-quality-2019-2024. There you can find the project’s published research on HBCC including why the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit is being developed.

You can also talk to a member of the study team to learn more about the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit and the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study. Please reach out to [STUDY PHONE NUMBER] or email [STUDY EMAIL] with any questions.

The referenced collection of information is voluntary. Information will be kept private. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is XXXX-XXXX and the expiration date is X/XX/20XX.