The author presents insights from various readers of "ExchangeEveryDay" regarding trends in the world of family child care. Kathleen Reticker of Acre Family Child Care in Lowell, Massachusetts thinks an increasing trend in Family Child Care is the pressure to emulate a Center, instead of seeing family child care as a different model. Over the…

Today employer child care is accepted as standard benefit for employees and nearly all Fortune 500 companies have gotten involved. The current recession threatened to halt the growth of employer child care as companies consolidated, cut back, and folded. However, in reviewing the status of employer child care for this trend report, it appears that…

For 25 years, "Exchange" has been tracking developments in the for profit child care sector. With this report, CEOs of organizations in the Exchange Top 50 have been asked to reflect on what have been the most significant developments in this sector over these 25 years. This article shares what they said.

Center-based child care and family child care are now part of the fabric of life in the United States. This trend report will review the available demographic information on the types of child care arrangements that parents are utilizing, the expenses related to these forms of care, and the structural characteristics of center-based care. Most of…

Considering how bad the economy was in 2009, North America's 50 largest for profit child care chains fared pretty well. In fact, about half of these organizations actually expanded their capacity in 2009--although the expansion was not spectacular, averaging just under 3%. About one-fourth of the organizations maintained their capacity and a…

The field of early care and education has a long, proud history. In conducting research on the oldest child care centers in the United States, the authors discovered 75 organizations that have been in operation research more than 90 years; the oldest of which, Newark Day Care Center, has been in operation for 207 years! Rather than summarizing…

With a new administration in Washington, DC poised to expand federal support for early childhood services, it is important that those in the early childhood education profession take a close look at how they can assure parents that they are providing the high quality early childhood services the parents need and deserve. In this article, the…

The year 2010 will not be remembered as a banner year for large for profit child care organizations. But it appears that heading into 2011, optimism has returned. This article presents the twenty-fourth annual status report on for profit child care organizations. In 2010, the total capacity of the three largest for profit chains in North America,…

In the intervening years, the question of whether corporations should be in the child care business has been answered. Employers no longer question whether providing child care support for employees is a good idea; the key question now is whether they can afford it. This article reports that research for the employer child care status report finds…

Having worked in the early childhood field for over three decades, the author has seen a lot of changes: The supply of child care services has increased ten-fold and the public respect for early childhood services has risen nearly as much. Despite these changes, certain challenges for these field have not been successfully addressed: Compensation…

This article presents the viewpoints of the CEOs of the three largest for profit child care organizations in North America about trends in their field. The three individuals are: (1) David Lissy, CEO, Bright Horizons Family Solutions; (2) Felicia Thornton, CEO, Knowledge Universe Education, U.S. (parent company for Knowledge Learning Corporation);…

In this article, the author highlights two main efforts in line with the historic twentieth annual status report on for profit child care. These includes: (1) adding new players in the "Exchanged Top 40" list; and (2) focusing on regional chains, organizations providing early childhood services in more than 20 locations in two or more states. The…

In the 1990s, employer child care operated by management organizations was consistently increasing at a rate of over 10% per year. However, since 2001, the growth rate has remained in the 4-6% range. In this article, the author presents differing views on the current trends and future prospects on employer child care. Ty Durekas, from Children's…

For decades "Exchange" magazine has tracked the growth of the for profit child care sector. In this article, the author reflects on trends in the for profit sector over the past four decades. Overall, it has been a period of tremendous growth for the for profit sector. However, it has also been characterized by alternating periods of rapid growth,…

This paper discusses some important questions to ask an insurance broker regarding liability insurance. The author based these questions on his interviews with Kathryn Hammerback, Craig Hammer, and Mike North: (1) Are centers covered when...?; (2) How can a center director cut costs on this policy?; (3) Is this an "occurrence" or a "claims-made"…