By Shira Small with support from Charis Davis, DéJon Banks, Sr., and Sonja Lennox 

What’s the best way to create child care policies that work for families and providers? Give them a seat at the table. In October 2024, the Administration for Children and Families released guidance to help state child care policy makers do just that. The guidance affirms that Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) funding can be used to engage people who have lived experience with the child care subsidy system and provides best practices on how to implement effective and equitable community engagement. This includes both parents and providers, with the guidance recognizing that gathering community feedback is a key component of improving the quality of services.  

We partnered with three parent advocates from the United Parent Leaders Action Network (UPLAN) to write this blog and elevate the importance of parent voice in the state child care policy making process. Their message is clear: collecting data from directly impacted groups is not enough. To implement meaningful, community-driven policy solutions, policymakers owe parents transparency, trust building, and action. Bridging the gap between those creating policy and those impacted by it is long overdue. 

Charis Davis, Ohio Parent Advocacy Network: Without parent voice, we are left with old rules and outdated laws from older individuals, mostly men, that no longer understand the position and economy that we are facing. They don’t understand what it is like to raise children today. It’s important that people get to see this guidance so more entities can start engaging with parents. To build trust, there needs to be a clear starting point/understanding and communication between all parties involved. If parents have a request, states should be transparent about what they can do, how they can do it, and work together to figure out a solution. We need transparency. Transparency is essential!  

DéJon Banks, Sr., UPLAN: Decisions about us cannot be made without us. A lot of things are happening behind closed doors. There need to be direct connections between community groups and the state so that the state is coming to recruit them and bring them to the table for this engagement. Engage them at the ground level. Come to the groups where they are. When we try to speak to people in government, we get a secretary or assistant, but high-ups need to be available, so people feel heard and connected and that decision makers are actually with them. It’s hard for decision makers to deny and hide when we as parents are holding people accountable by being part of the process, which this guidance can help with. 

Sonja Lennox, Washington State Parent Ambassadors: Parents should be at all tables where decisions are being made, especially when it is about them. Parents’ experiences make decision makers realize things that they are missing. With the guidance, people can see it and think of problems in a new way and how policy will affect parents and families. I think the advice that I would give people trying to start engaging parent voices is to start doing focus groups and make sure they are diverse in all demographics. Ask them what is and isn’t working well with this policy, how would you change it, and how would changing it impact you, your family, and your community? And there needs to be a stipend or something else given that says: we value your voice and opinion. To build trust, states need to walk their talk. Do what you say you’re going to do.   

The guidance includes the following recommendations: 

• Parents and early educators who provide feedback on child care policies should be compensated for their time at a rate comparable to other consultants in the field.  

• This includes reimbursement for transportation, parking, child care, and lost wages or expenses incurred by participating in various working groups, meetings, or advisory groups.  

• Trust building is a necessary step in engaging with parents and providers, from start to finish. People who lend their time and expertise should have clarity on how their feedback will be used and who it will be shared with.  

• Opportunities to offer feedback on relevant policies should accommodate families’ and early educators’ working hours, which may prevent them from participating in person during standard business hours. Virtual or hybrid participation options should be offered. 

• Facilitators should consider how the compensation that parents and providers may earn by providing their feedback will impact their eligibility for child care subsidies and other public benefits.  

• This means notifying participants of any changes to eligibility that could occur, or exempting the participation compensation parents and providers may earn from the definition of “income” in subsidy eligibility determinations. 

The expertise of families and early educators is critical to creating effective policy. This guidance is a helpful resource and starting place for states looking to gather feedback from people who have experience with the subsidy system, and states should prioritize co-designing engagement opportunities with parents and providers and/or consulting them about their needs. To create a more equitable child care system, parents and providers should have a role in setting the table, not only sitting at it.  

CLASP would like to thank Sonja Lennox, Charis Davis, and DéJon Banks, Sr. with UPLAN for providing their expertise to help draft this blog.