Comparison of accredited and non-accredited family child care programs on program quality, provider professionalism, and family support

Abstract

Observations of program quality, using the Family Day Care Assessment Profile (Profile), and questionnaire information on job professionalism, spousal support and family functioning were obtained from 39 registered Georgia family child care providers, 12 of whom were accredited by the National Association of Family Child Care. As expected, accredited providers had significantly higher total Profile scores, scoring 90% or better across subscales, while the non-accredited providers’ subscale mean scores were lower and quite variable. Also as predicted, the accredited group scored higher on professionalism variables such as education, hours of training, future job commitment, and number of professional affiliations, but not on experience, current job commitment, or job satisfaction. Further, the two groups did not differ on a measure of spousal support or two measures of family functioning.