Family Child Care Quality Network
The Family Child Care Quality Network is an expanding professional network of family child care (FCCs) business-owners and educators who are enthusiastic about caring for our city’s youngest children living in high-need neighborhoods.
Quality Network members are a part of San Francisco’s Early Learning Scholarship system. The Family Child Care Quality Network can help you attract more families, network with peers, get advice from experts to improve the quality of your program, and access valuable membership perks.
Benefits of Participating
Attract More Families
- Market your program to 1,000s of local families actively looking for care
- Receive 4 times more referrals than those outside the Network
- Access premium rates for caring for the children in your neighborhood who need you most
- Kids keep their scholarships until they are 6 years old, so your enrollment is more consistent
Network with Peers
- Be a part of something bigger; the SF Family Child Care Quality Network includes more than 300 child care business owners like you
- Meet up with other providers at workshops, conferences and retreats offered throughout the year
- Share your expertise; our Leadership Academy builds experienced providers’ skills to mentor others: facilitating discussion groups, training others and other opportunities to give back
Get Advice from the Experts
- Each Network Member is paired with an experienced coach, who is there for you when you need her; coaches bring years of hands-on experience and multi-lingual information to help you make it all work
- QN Members also have access to a team of experts to help you …
- Navigate complicated government systems
- Deepen your understanding of children’s development
- Support kids with special needs through resources, screenings and best-practice techniques
- Run your business better, so you have more time to spend with children
- Address mental health concerns—both for you or the families you serve; free, unlimited support is available any time of day
Access Valuable Membership Perks
- An iPad/tablet to help track attendance and document child development milestones
- Up to $500 in classroom supplies—books, quality toys and equipment for your learning environment
- Free learning tools you can use as you grow your business and sharpen your skills
- Professional, onsite photo shoot and editorial assistance to enhance your marketing
- Up to $500 scholarships for you to take a class on a topic you care about
Expectations of Membership
Quality Network members are licensed family child care educators who are enthusiastic about caring our city’syoungest children living in high-need neighborhoods who need your skills to build their social, emotional and cognitive development.
Network members are expected to maintain a healthy and safe environment, provide developmentally appropriate and engaging learning and consistent positive child interactions, serve families with child care subsidies and follow administrative policies and procedures of the Early Learning Scholarship system.
Maintain Healthy and Safe Environment
| State Licensing | Maintain a valid Family Child Care license and be in good standing with California Community Care Licensing |
Provide Developmentally Appropriate and Engaging Learning and Consistent Positive Child Interactions
| Quality Improvement Plan | Develop and implement a quality improvement plan that outlines your individualized goals and strategies for ongoing program improvement |
| Workforce Registry | Document professional development activities through the Workforce Registry |
| Quality Assessments | Participate in ongoing formal assessments of quality using the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) framework |
| Child Development Screenings & Assessments | Screen each child to understand strengths and identify possible developmental delays and needs; document each child’s development using the state Desired Results Developmental Profile |
| Quality Rating | Achieve a Tier 3 or higher on the QRIS matrix within two years |
Serve Families with Child Care Subsidies
| Families with Subsidies | Commit to enroll a minimum of 15% of licensed capacity children receiving a child care subsidy |
Follow Administrative Policies and Procedures
| Early Learning Scholarship Procedures | Adhere to policies outlined in the ELS Operating Guidelines, including using Early Learning SF to report vacancies and connect with families |
Apply to Join
Applying is easy … and you’re already taking the first step!
Follow the steps above to apply to become part of the Quality Network. Once you’ve learned some basic information about the Quality Network, contact our team to request an application form.
We’ll review your application to make sure your program meets the basic criteria. If it does, we’ll come visit your program to check it out and explore one-on-one what it means to be part of the Quality Network. If all goes well, we’ll do the paperwork to make it official. Then that’s it, application approved!
About the Early Learning Scholarship System
Early Learning Scholarships provide eligible San Francisco families who have children 0-5 years old with financial assistance to pay for quality early care and education. The program prioritizes quality and continuity of care, supports the early care and education workforce, and ensures that San Francisco’s youngest children, especially those who have the most to gain from participation, have access to high-quality early care and education.
More than 300 licensed early care and education centers and family child care programs across San Francisco are currently qualified to care for children with Early Learning Scholarships. These programs are committed to continuous quality improvement and to maintaining a standard of quality at Tier 3 or above on the California Quality Rating and Improvement System.
Building on research, and in response to input from the field, the Early Learning Scholarship (ELS) approach aims to:
- Pay programs enhanced rates that cover the cost of operating a quality program
- Ensure continuity of care for targeted populations
- Reduce redundant paperwork and reporting
ELS-Qualified programs receive coaching and professional development to enhance the quality of early education and care. Family child care providers receive support through one of two Quality Networks led by Children’s Council of San Francisco and Wu Yee Children’s Services. Centers receive support through SF Quality Connections administered by First 5 San Francisco.
Contact the San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education for more information about the ELS system.
