Additional Resources – Training and Technical Assistance
Six Essential Program Practices: Program for Infant/Toddler Care (compilation)
These papers promote evidence-based program practices that support positive outcomes for infants and toddlers in group care settings. They emphasize the importance and seriousness of supporting child care professionals as they promote optimal infant and toddler development. Information shared in this series can be used to inform policy decisions and written guidance (for example, staff training materials, parent handbooks, program philosophy statements, and job descriptions) to support high-quality responsive care practices for infants and toddlers.
Primary caregiving is the practice in which the care of each infant or toddler is assigned to one specific caregiver who is principally responsible for caring for that child in the care setting and communicating with the child’s family.
Continuity of care is the practice in which primary caregivers and children stay together for as long as possible (preferably for the children’s first 3 years), creating opportunities for caregiver–child, caregiver–family, and child–child relationships to develop and deepen over time.
Small group care is the practice in which primary caregivers provide care for infants and toddlers in discrete groups, creating an intimate setting for interactions, care routines, and exploration.
Individualized care is the practice of being responsive and adapting to each infant’s and toddler’s interests, needs, and abilities to support their healthy development
Culturally responsive care is the practice of caring for children from culturally diverse families in ways that are consistent with their home practices and values.
Inclusive care is the practice of actively including infants and toddlers with disabilities or delays in group care settings, with appropriate accommodation and support.
This tool is designed to support state child care leaders and infant/toddler stakeholders as they assess, prioritize, plan, implement, and evaluate state policies in order to strengthen the quality of child care services infants, toddlers, and their families receive. The tool also aims to assist infant/toddler child care leaders as they create strategies, policies, protocols, and systems that:
- identify relationship-based care as essential to quality infant/toddler child care
- engage, inform, and connect with families of infants and toddlers
- strengthen the quality and conditions of the infant/toddler workforce to help meet the unique needs of infants and toddlers in child care settings
- increase the supply, health and safety, sustainability, and quality of infant/toddler child care settings
- coordinate and integrate cross-sector systems that serve infants, toddlers, and their families
This resource provides a snapshot of some of the ways States’ and Territories’ Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plans reflect infant/toddler quality efforts and initiatives. The purpose of this resource is to provide a synopsis of plans to improve the supply and quality of child care programs and services for infants and toddlers to meet CCDF 3 percent set-aside requirements. The examples and approaches highlighted are extracted from the approved 2016–2018 CCDF Plans published June 16, 2016, on the Office of Child Care website. States and Territories can use this document to identify strengths and opportunities for infant/toddler child care quality improvement, to review other state and territory approaches to using their infant/toddler set-aside funds, and to learn about state and territory practices intended to improve the supply and quality of infant/toddler child care programs and services.
Resources from Our Partners
Frein B. (2016). Strategies for building quality infant-toddler supply. Paper presented at the Quality Rating and Improvement System Annual Conference—Establishing an Ecosystem for High-Quality Early Learning, New Orleans, LA. Retrieved November 21, 2016, from
http://qrisnetwork.org/sites/all/files/conference-session/resources/321StatePolicyOptions.pdf
National Center on Child Care Professional Development Systems and Workforce Initiatives, Office of Child Care and Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). Infant and toddler continuity of care assessment tool. Retrieved November 21, 2016, from
https://childcareta.acf.hhs.gov/resource/infant-and-toddler-continuity-care-assessment-tool
Stoney, L. (2015). Financing high-quality center-based infant-toddler care: Options and opportunities. (Report by Early Educator Central to the Office of Child Care and the Office of Head Start, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Retrieved November 21, 2016, from
https://earlyeducatorcentral.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/public/resources/Financing.pdf