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Child Care State Capacity Building Center

The Child Care State Capacity Building Center (SCBC) works with State and Territory leaders and their partners to create innovative early childhood systems and programs that improve results for children and families. SCBC focuses on enhancing the effectiveness of programs implemented under the Child Care and Development Fund, improving the quality and supply of infant-toddler services, and advancing the development of early childhood systems. Guiding principles include the following:

  • Effective State-level technical assistance establishes credibility and expertise, builds partnerships, and develops systemic capacity from Child Care and Development Fund Administrators to child care providers.
  • Context matters. Effective capacity building requires understanding and respecting each organization's history, values, and vision.

Services are available through the SCBC's Infant/Toddler Specialist Network, Intensive Capacity Building Network, and State Systems Specialist Network.

Contact Us

Send your questions and requests to:
Highlighted Tools and Resources: 
Emergency Preparedness

Emergency Preparedness plans help ensure child care programs and staff are prepared to react in a manner that protects the safety of children and staff when an emergency occurs. Emergency plans also establish mechanisms to help programs during the recovery phase and get businesses “up and running” as soon as possible, which promotes continuity of care and reduces the risks of clientele and income loss.

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Systems Building Resource Guide

The OCC Systems Building Resource Guide is designed to provide an overview of key system-building issues to support Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) State Administrators (SAs) in pursuing system-building initiatives.

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Infant/Toddler Resource Guide

The Infant/Toddler Resource Guide offers a host of materials to support the development and implementation of policies and practices for high-quality care for infants and toddlers.

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Building a Comprehensive State Policy Strategy to Prevent Expulsion from Early Learning Settings

Building a Comprehensive State Policy Strategy to Prevent Expulsion from Early Learning Settings provides a review of expulsion research, discusses dimensions of expulsion, and provides the Expulsion Policy Strategy Tool—a practical tool designed to support states and territories in designing and implementing a multifaceted policy approach to developing a continuum of supports for programs, families, and children.

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Office of Child Care Announcement:
  • Consumer Education Hot Topic Webinar Series and “Ask Me Anything” Webinars
    The Child Care State Capacity Building Center (SCBC) is pleased to announce a series of webinars designed to help states and territories improve their consumer education websites. SCBC will partner with experts from our Website Development and User Experience Team, along with experts from the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment, National Center on Child Care Data and Reporting, National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, and National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement, to offer these webinars. Full session and registration information is available by clicking the link above.
Success Stories: 

Michigan Establishes a Statewide Infant/Toddler Consultant Network

In 2014, Michigan recognized a need for an infant/toddler consultant network. In order to best meet the need, the state surveyed its infant/toddler providers to gather their thoughts on what supports would be the most valuable. As a result, in 2016, the statewide system of resource centers established an infant/toddler consultant network that included all 10 of the resource centers. Synergistically, the State Capacity Building Center (SCBC) Infant/Toddler Specialist Network (ITSN) was ready to pilot the Six Essential Practices of Relationship-Based Care training for trainers (TFT) in the fall of that same year. Michigan’s Infant/Toddler Consultants received this training and began to strategize how to incorporate it into their work.

In 2017, the resource centers, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Great Start and Early Childhood Investment Corporation, began to pilot regional learning communities with programs and providers who served infants and toddlers. Building on participation in the state’s quality rating and improvement system, Great Start to Quality, this included:

  • Offering monthly group sessions
  • Mentoring onsite
  • Coaching and consultation on quality improvement
  • Providing professional development at focused meetings
  • Infusing all of their work with the Six Essential Practices of Relationship-Based Care

Over the following two years, the SCBC Infant/Toddler Specialists provided enhanced professional development opportunities and technical assistance to the Michigan Infant/Toddler Consultants, during which time their capacity to deliver this training, build reflective learning communities, and support responsive caregiving has excelled. Their commitment to continuous quality improvement is obvious in their scaffolded support structure of providers that is tailored to meet the needs of each learning community. In a parallel process, the consultants are part of their own learning community in which they have the opportunity to integrate reflective practice.

In 2018, a detailed transition plan was put into place for the first group of learning communities. Providers were given the opportunity to determine the supports they needed to become self-sustaining and form a support network, enhancing care for infant and toddlers in other programs as well. These providers’ star ratings moved from 1–2 stars to 3–4–5 stars, offering developmentally appropriate experiences and materials to the children in their care, as well as demonstrating relationship-based care practices and decreasing the amount of challenging behaviors. The Michigan Infant/Toddler Consultants continue to move this work forward with recruitment of their second group of regional infant/toddler learning communities and ongoing relationships with the first group. In February 2019, their work was highlighted at the Opening Minds Conference, a national conference for early childhood providers in Chicago, Illinois

Resource Search: 
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SCBC Infant/Toddler Specialist Network 2019 Hot Topic Webinars

The State Capacity Building Center's Infant/Toddler Specialist Network is hosting a series of webinars on the third Wednesday of...

Measuring a Standard of Care: Using Standards Like Caring for our Children Basics to Inform Technical Assistance for Infant/Toddler Programs

Quality I/T programs can have significant developmental benefits and positive long-term effects for children. Poor quality settings can result in unsafe environments that disregard children’s basic physical and emotional needs. Caring for Our Children Basics (CFOCB) represents the...

Posting Serious Incident Data and Child Care Inspection Reports: National Webinar

The first in the Child Care State Capacity Building Center's Consumer Education Hot Topic Webinar Series, this webinar focused on posting serious incident data and child care inspection reports online. The webinar included a discussion of CCDF requirements and an exploration of why it's...

Guía de recursos: Información de cuidado infantil para familias

Tener acceso a cuidado infantil seguro y económico es algo criticó para los padres y otros cuidadores. Las familias enfrentan numerosas decisiones cuando están balanceando el trabajo y la vida familiar, especialmente cuando se trata de escoger el tipo de cuidado que se va usar. Encontrar cuidado...

Integrating Systems of Care through CCDF to Support High Quality Infant/Toddler Care

This webinar explored promising state and territory strategies and lessons learned for integrating infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) and systems of care (SoC) within infant/toddler initiatives.

Caring for Yourself: Foundational to Caring for Others

Part of the 2019 Hot Topic webinar series, this webinar focused on policies and strategies for use by technical assistance providers and child care professionals to increase mindfulness and self-care.

Exploring Relationship-Based Professional Learning Approaches That Support Infant/Toddler Care

The third in the 2019 Hot Topic webinar series provided an overview of cultural responsiveness to support the needs of infants and toddlers in diverse child care settings. State- and program-level strategies were discussed. Participants expanded their knowledge of resources and...

Sample Strategic Plan The ABC Service Agency

This resource is a sample strategic plan that outlines the elements of a successful strategic plan, including strategic action plan focus by year.

Supporting Cultural Responsiveness in Diverse Child Care Settings Serving Infants and Toddlers

This second webinar in the 2019 Hot Topic series provided an overview of cultural responsiveness to support the needs of infants and toddlers in diverse child care settings. State- and program-level strategies were discussed and participants expanded their knowledge of resources and...

Developmental Screenings, Collaboration, and Coordination for Comprehensive Services

The first webinar in the 2019 Hot Topic series provided a national overview of state and territory approaches to broaden developmental screenings and to strengthen collaborative partnerships for comprehensive services to support infants and toddlers in early care and education settings...

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