Become a NAFCC Accredited Program

I first became accredited in 2005. I have continued to keep my certification up-to-date. I feel it validates me as a professional and shows my commitment to providing quality child care.

About Family Child Care

Research shows that opportunities in the early years matter for success in school and in life, and family child care providers like NAFCC members are leading the way.

Family child care is the work of child care provided in a professional caregiver’s home. Across the country, family child care homes provide high-quality programs for infants and toddlers, preschoolers, school age, and children with special needs.

Building the supply of high-quality family child care is essential for families, for communities, and for expanding early learning opportunities for young children.

Across the country, eleven million children under age five are in child care. There are three million children in family child care.

There are approximately 1 million paid providers caring for children in a home-based setting. The supply of licensed family child care is declining when it should be rising to meet the needs of working families and the urgency of early learning opportunities for young children.

Where policy opportunities permit, family child care providers partner to deliver publicly-funded preK and participate in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. Family child care is an important partner in Head Start, and 600 family child care providers are in Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships. Family child care programs enroll families who pay with assistance (subsidy), and support families who are often challenged to find high-quality, reliable child care, including those in need of care in “nontraditional” work hours and in rural communities.

The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) is the only professional association dedicated specifically to promoting high-quality early childhood experiences in the unique environment of family child care programs. NAFCC works on behalf of the one million family child care providers operating nationwide.

NAFCC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership association. The NAFCC team operates in Salt Lake City, Utah and Washington, DC.

Commitment to Quality: Family Child Care Accreditation

NAFCC has lead the family child care accreditation program for over 25 years. The standards are research-based and demonstrate principles of child growth and development as well as current best practices in the early childhood field. Accreditation is not just a mark of quality, but a demonstration of commitment to continuous quality improvement.

Becoming a Member

For professionals and advocates there are two types of membership:

Basic Membership—$45 Annual Fee

(Designed for providers, co-providers, assistants, and family child care advocates)

• Discounts on NAFCC Accreditation ($425 value)

• Discounts for NAFCC's Annual Conference ($80 value)

• Monthly e-newsletters and public policy updates that are relevant to your business

• Access to online trainings and webinars from experts in the field.

• Third-party discounts from NAFCC Sponsors and Supporters

• Networking and support from national family child care leaders

Professional Membership-$189 Annual Fee

(Designed for family child care providers which includes more business services)

• Subscription to KidKare, a cloud based service to manage your family child care business

• Online Resources ($200.00 value)

  • Sample Contracts & Policies

  • Permission Forms

  • Health Forms

  • Employee Documents

  • And much more…

• Free Registration for all NAFCC webinars ($600.00 value)

  • Business Webinars with Tom Copeland

  • Accreditation Support Webinars

  • Special webinars from NAFCC Sponsors such as Sesame Workshop

(Same benefits as basic membership plus much more)

You can go to their website if you would like more information on becoming an accredited provider.

If you are not in my area, it's a good idea to look and see if there are any other providers in your area so you can ask them for assistance or ask them questions about the process.

NAFCC also holds an annual conference designed specifically for family child care providers.

I wrote an article for Town Square IL about the conference I attended in Alabama in 2017. It's called Provider Blog—Grow and Connect Through Conference Attendance