The Family Child Care system began in 1991 to train and license Chinese-speaking Asian American women to become family child care educators in their own homes. Our system now has nine Boston system homes in which we provide low cost quality care to 32 children from three months to six years old with support from the Department of Early Learning and Care. Each of these homes is a private small business. We subcontract with the educators to care for children we place but they also can provide care to their own recruited private fee care parents. We have a total capacity to serve 62 children.
Family Child Care at BCNC also has a network of 50 Chinese family child care homes outside of the city who come to BCNC for support to become licensed and receive required educational training in Cantonese and Mandarin to maintain their license. Although we do not monitor these homes or place children in them, BCNC works to support the quality of care by providing technical assistance and training.
Information and support to become licensed family child care educators.
BCNC provides information and support to become a licensed family child care provider. We provide information about the required Chinese pre-orientation at the Department of Early Education and Care after which providers who continue to pursue a license can come to us for a five hour mandatory orientation to family child care called Module One Orientation. We also provide needed CPR/First Aid training in Cantonese and Mandarin needed to become licensed providers.
Additional five hour training has been mandated six months after a family child care educator has been licensed. We also provide this training in Cantonese and Mandarin several times a year.
Help for Parents to Afford Culturally and Linguistically Competent Quality Care
In the first three years of life that the architecture of the brain lays down its foundation upon which all further development is built. Ninety percent of the brain is developed by the age of three years old. This happens in the serve and return reciprocal relationship between children and those who care for them. BCNC’s family child care homes provide affordable full time, full year care to low income families who work and study; it allows their families to thrive. Our educators are trained, monitored and provided with support by our credentialed early childhood home visitor. She supports family child care educators so that all children in the home have the resources to grow and develop to their optimum level.
Professional Development
BCNC provides the required professional development in Cantonese and Mandarin for Family Child Care providers that allow them to maintain their license and improve the quality of care in their family child care homes. We offer a diverse array of training on topics such as child development, developmentally appropriate curriculum, space development, health and safety, as well as working well with families.
We also provide small business training that helps providers run a financially viable business. This includes such workshops as record keeping, marketing your business, managing tax time and developing a business plan. Resources are available to help providers develop a contract with parents and make clear policies and procedures. This allows for educators to develop healthy relationships with parents based on mutual respect and understanding from the start of their relationship.
As part of ensuring professional development is available to providers BCNC often does outreach for state funded training and helps to ensure that these are linguistically accessible and hosted in the community. We partner with others in the community to ensure that Chinese family child care educators are a part of the larger child care community.
Click here for a list of independent providers who receive support from BCNC through membership. These providers operate private family child care homes and being included in this list is not an endorsement or recommendation from BCNC. Please contact our office at 617-635-5129 x1034 for more information.
The Family Child Care system is open year-round. Hours vary with individual providers but cover standard working hours. For more information about the system, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at 617-635-5129 x1032.
Private/full fee slots and subsidized slots are available; BCNC maintains a wait list. For more information on fees and availability, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at 617-635-5129 x1033.