IN THE STREETSFFN Child Care | Systems Change Portal
Facilitated by LVCM CDC
🌟 Our North Star: First 1,500 Days — Birth to Kindergarten Readiness | 70% of Forsyth County families depend on FFN child care (Source: Compass Evaluation, FFN Final Report, Dec 2022)
Life of Victory in Christ Ministries CDC
FFN Child Care
Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care
Every child deserves quality care. Every caregiver deserves support.
FFN Child Care is an initiative focused on elevating, supporting, and advocating for the invisible workforce of family, friend, and neighbor child care providers across the Piedmont Triad. LVCM CDC provides systems change facilitation, coordination, and consultation to advance this work.
Who's at the Table
FFN Collective Action Groups
Committees and collaborations working to support Family, Friend, and Neighbor child care providers across the Piedmont Triad and North Carolina.
Additional FFN working groups and advocacy collectives will be added as they are identified through ongoing statewide research.
Why FFN Child Care Matters
Family, Friend, and Neighbor child care is the most common form of child care in America — and it happens during the most critical window of a child's life.
A. The Science: Why the First 1,500 Days Are Everything
80% of a child's brain develops by age 3. By kindergarten, nearly 90% of brain architecture is complete (Source: Harvard Center on the Developing Child). FFN child care happens during this exact window. When a grandmother reads to her grandson, when a neighbor helps a toddler sort shapes — that IS brain development. That IS kindergarten readiness.
B. The Reality: FFN Child Care Is America's #1 Child Care Choice
FFN child care is the most common form of non-parental child care in the US. Over 3 million caregivers provide care to 6+ million children birth to age 5 daily. This is NOT "informal care." This is the backbone of America's child care system.
C. The Stigma: What We're Up Against
FFN child care has been called "informal," "unlicensed," "unregulated" — all implying it's lesser than. FFN providers have been excluded from subsidies, overlooked in funding, and criminalized in NC.
The truth: Parents CHOOSE FFN child care because they trust the caregiver, it reflects their culture, it's flexible for nontraditional hours, and it keeps children connected to community.
D. The Three Pillars: Relief, Prevent, Protect
Our framework for supporting FFN child care providers across three interconnected pillars.
Relief
- •Immediate support for caregivers
- •Training and professional development
- •Peer networks and community connection
- •CACFP nutrition program access
- •Public recognition and visibility
Prevent
- •Preventing negative outcomes through quality supports
- •Culturally relevant training programs
- •Resource access and navigation help
- •Bridges to early childhood systems
- •Licensure pathways for those who want them
Protect
- •Protecting providers from criminalization (SB1053)
- •Protecting housing rights (SB1015)
- •Ensuring children are counted in state data
- •Safeguarding the right to choose FFN child care
- •Defending against discriminatory regulations
E. Kindergarten Readiness: What FFN Child Care Actually Does
FFN child care prepares children for a 12-year academic journey. Every one of these moments is kindergarten readiness:
F. After-School Support: The Continuum of Care
FFN caregivers don't stop at age 5. Many continue providing after-school support — helping children retain what was taught, complete homework, process social challenges, and stay connected to community.
G. The Call to Action: What Happens If We Don't Act
If We DON'T Act
- 64% of NC children remain invisible (Source: NC Child Care Services Association, 2024)
- Caregivers stay unsupported and criminalized
- The 1,500-day window passes without resources
If We DO Act
- Every caregiver has training and a peer network
- Children enter kindergarten prepared
- NC becomes a national leader in FFN child care
- Families choose what works without stigma
The First 1,500 Days — Birth to Kindergarten Readiness
Understanding FFN
What Is FFN Child Care?
Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) child care is care provided by grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, friends, and neighbors — trusted people in a family's life who step in to care for children. It is the most common form of non-parental child care in the United States, with approximately 60% of children under age 5 cared for by FFN caregivers.
FFN child care is license-exempt, meaning these providers operate outside the formal, regulated child care system. They are not required to hold child care licenses, and until recently, they have been largely invisible in policy conversations about child care and early childhood education.
Learn more about the FFN Child Care Alliance at ffnchildcarealliance.org
Family
Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and relatives who provide daily care for children in their family.
Friends
Trusted friends who care for children, often building bonds that resemble family over time.
Neighbors
Community members who step in to ensure children are safe, loved, and nurtured.
The Impact
Why FFN Child Care Matters
Families choose FFN child care for many reasons: trust, cultural alignment, flexibility, affordability, and the comfort of keeping children with people they know and love. For many families — especially in communities of color, immigrant communities, and rural communities — FFN child care is not a fallback. It is a deliberate choice rooted in love, trust, and cultural values.
Yet despite being the most common form of child care, FFN providers are often excluded from the resources, training, and support available to licensed child care centers. They receive little to no public funding, limited access to professional development, and minimal recognition in state policy. This must change.
North Carolina
The Child Care Reality
North Carolina's youngest children are overwhelmingly cared for outside the licensed system. Here's what the data shows.
County Snapshots
The Gap Between Children and Licensed Care
In every county, the majority of young children are NOT in licensed care. FFN providers fill the gap.
Bridge Organization: Imprints Cares connects both counties — a member of BOTH the FFN Child Care Alliance (Forsyth County) and the NC FFN Advocacy Coalition (Transylvania County is the convener).
The First 1,500 Days
Why Early Development Matters
80% happens in the first 1,000 days.
When 66% of children are NOT in licensed care with intentional curricula, we cannot expect the achievement gap to close.
Gross Motor Skills
What develops: Rolling, crawling, walking, running, jumping, balancing
How: Physical play, safe spaces, outdoor exploration
Fine Motor Skills
What develops: Grasping, stacking, drawing, self-feeding, buttoning
How: Intentional materials, sensory play, art activities
Cognitive Development
What develops: Cause-and-effect, problem-solving, early math, curiosity
How: Responsive interaction, open-ended play, conversation
Social-Emotional Development
What develops: Attachment, self-regulation, empathy, cooperation, trust
How: Consistent, nurturing relationships — the STRENGTH of FFN care
Language & Literacy
What develops: Babbling, first words, sentences, storytelling, pre-reading
How: Conversation, exposure to books, storytelling, singing
The Stakes
Third Grade Reading & Beyond
Third grade reading proficiency is widely recognized as a strong predictor of later academic success, high school completion, and long-term socio-economic outcomes. Children who struggle with reading in 3rd grade are 4 times more likely to not graduate high school on time. (Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2012)
When 60-70% of children do not have access to licensed care with intentional curricula during their first 1,500 days, they enter kindergarten already behind. FFN providers who receive training, materials, and support can dramatically improve kindergarten readiness for the children in their care — but only if the system recognizes and invests in them.
93% of parents surveyed in Western NC reported that FFN care is their first choice — not a fallback. (Smart Start of Transylvania / NCCHW at UNC Asheville, WNC FFN Research, 2025 — Dogwood Health Trust)
The Case for Investing
Why We Must Invest in FFN Care
FFN care is not informal — it is foundational. It is where the majority of North Carolina's youngest children spend their first 1,500 days. The question is not whether FFN care exists. It does, and it serves the majority of our children. The question is whether we will invest in making it intentional, supported, and connected to the systems that prepare children for kindergarten and life.
If we invest in FFN providers — with training, materials, stipends, and recognition — we can:
- ✓Close the kindergarten readiness gap before children enter school
- ✓Reduce the 3rd grade reading proficiency gap
- ✓Support working families who depend on FFN care
- ✓Build a child care infrastructure that reaches every community
- ✓Create a model that other states can replicate
This is systems change: not replacing FFN care, but recognizing it, supporting it, and connecting it to the resources that make it stronger.
The Gap
Why Support and Resources Are Necessary
FFN providers give their time, love, and energy to care for our youngest children during the most critical years of brain development. But they do so without the safety net that licensed child care programs receive.
Access to Training
FFN providers often lack access to early childhood education training, health and safety courses, and child development resources that licensed providers receive as standard.
Financial Support
Most FFN providers are unpaid or underpaid. They do not receive subsidies, grants, or compensation for their work, even when families qualify for child care assistance.
Recognition in Policy
North Carolina does not currently recognize FFN providers in state child care policy. This means they cannot receive public funding, participate in quality rating systems, or access state-level support programs.
Connection and Community
FFN providers often work in isolation. Without networks, peer support, or community connections, they miss opportunities to share knowledge, ask questions, and grow as caregivers.
Our Strategy
Our Approach: Systems Change, Not Just Services
LVCM CDC serves as a neutral systems change facilitator for this initiative. Our role is not to provide direct services, but to bring together the organizations, institutions, and community voices needed to change the conditions that keep FFN providers invisible and unsupported.
We focus on five areas:
Asset Mapping
Identifying FFN providers, resources, and gaps across Forsyth and Guilford counties.
Policy Advocacy
Advancing state-level recognition of FFN providers (SB 1015/1053).
Steering Committee
A cross-sector team of organizations coordinating strategy and action.
Community Voice
Ensuring FFN providers and families shape every decision.
Collective Impact
Building the coordination, cooperation, and collaboration needed for lasting change.
Coordination
Steering Committee
Our Steering Committee meets monthly to coordinate strategy, review progress, and plan next steps. The committee includes representatives from child care resource centers, schools, community organizations, communications partners, and evaluation teams.
Steering Committee meetings are for initiative members. To learn more about joining, contact kholly@lvcmcdc.org.
Questions & Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Get Involved?
Whether you are an FFN provider, a parent, a community organization, or a policymaker — there is a place for you in this work.