Social Support and the Quality of Child Care Practices Among Participants in the Family Child Care Partnerships Program

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to describe the social and professional support networks of family child care providers involved in a program designed to improve child care quality, and to examine whether the extent and quality of provider social support affect the quality of their care giving practices. Study participants were 109 family child care providers enrolled in the Family Child Care Partnerships (FCCP) program--an in-home, mentor-delivered, technical assistance and education program focusing on assisting providers to increase the quality of their caregiving practices and achieve national accreditation standards. Providers were randomly selected from two groups—those currently enrolled and those who became accredited during the period of their enrollment. MANOVAs were conducted to determine whether there were changes in social and professional support and three types of child care quality from Time 1 (at the time of enrollment) to Time 2 (12 months or more subsequent to their enrollment), and whether changes in support were associated with changes in process or global quality.. Overall, the findings indicated that for both groups of providers, levels of professional involvement and global quality increased significantly. No significant increases in levels of social support or process quality were seen for either group. Increases in professional involvement were related significantly to increases in global quality.