hechingerreport.org
OPINION: Home-based child care is the backbone of America’s infant-toddler care system. We need more of it
When the state of New Mexico announced it would provide no-cost universal child care last September, Yaneidy Gomez, a nurse, started thinking about starting her own program. New Mexico made it easy: She applied for a child care license in March and by April had passed inspection and welcomed her first family, proving that a motivated provider can move quickly when states streamline the confusing maze of bureaucracy and paperwork. Two things made the decision to swiftly open a home-based child care business possible: New Mexico’s newly expanded child care assistance program and her confidence that state support for home-based child care was here to stay.