This is the only comprehensive study of family-based child care since 1980. It chronicles the carefully designed and detailed study on family child care and relative care from the perspective of families, children, and providers, and presents complex, far-reaching, and sometimes controversial findings, especially in regards to the quality of relative care.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

"... A study of 820 mothers and 225 of their children in the homes of 226 providers [of family day care] in three communities: San Fernando/Los Angeles, California; Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas; and Charlotte, North Carolina"--Executive summary, p. 1.

This toolkit is designed to be a resource for researchers and technical staff of any discipline, working for governments and institutions interested in measuring and monitoring the quality of child care centers serving infants ages 0 to 3 years (36 months).

This important work presents the results of the most comprehensive scientific study to date of early child care and its relation to child development. In one volume, a critical selection of material from the most salient journal articles is brought together with new overviews and a concluding commentary. Provided is a wealth of authoritative information about the ways in which nonmaternal care is linked to health, psychological adjustment, and mother-child bonds in the first six years of life. The study addresses the full complexity of this vital issue, taking into account a range of family characteristics as well as the quality of child care experiences. An essential resource for developmentalists, early child care specialists, and educators, this volume offers compelling new perspectives on practice, policy, and research.

FDCRS consists of 32 items, organized under six major headings: Space and Furnishings for Care and Learning -- Basic Care -- Language and Reasoning -- Learning Activities -- Social Development -- Adult Needs. Eight additional items are included for rating a day care home's provisions for special-needs children. Each book contains one score sheet. Packages of 30 score sheets can be ordered separately.

Based on the research and experience of Dr. Bellamy, this definitive reference work, months in the making, is one of the most complete and authoritative evaluations of early care and education made available to the public. As welfare reforms put more mothers back to work and off public assistance, the need for quality child care in the new millennium will reach an all-time high. Cities throughout the country are facing the ultimate question: How does the government help families become self-sufficient and productive without jeopardizing quality care and development of the children? This book provides a critical look at welfare reforms and at families who struggle to comply with policy guidelines without compromising the care and development of their young children. Here, in a warm and jargon-free style, a single work offers families all the practical information needed to select the best quality in child care for their young children. Educators and child care officials will find in this work a reservoir of information designed for excellence in early care and education. Policymakers will find this work a priceless source in shaping welfare reforms.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.