Announcing the Home-Based Child Care Research Initiative
University of Delaware will serve as a hub for critical research on home-based child care
University of Delaware’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD)—already a national leader and trusted state partner in high-quality early care and education—will now serve as a hub for critical research on home-based child care (HBCC) with the Home-Based Child Care Research Initiative. HBCC is nonparental child care in a provider or child’s home, including family child care and family, friend and neighbor care.
UD is one of the only institutions in the nation to bring together a team of researchers with an exclusive focus on the HBCC sector, led by Research Professor Juliet Bromer and supported by UD’s Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC). The Initiative conducts action-oriented research in partnership with the HBCC community to promote transformative policy change and enhance outcomes for providers, children, families and communities, all while building the movement for HBCC recognition as a critical component of early care and education systems.
“I’m excited to welcome the Home-Based Child Care Research Initiative team to CEHD and support them as they continue their critical work in this area of early childhood education,” said Rena Hallam, dean of CEHD and professor in its Department of Human Development and Family Sciences. “Our college is looking forward to expanding and strengthening our partnerships with the HBCC and family child care community, informing state and national policy about ways to strengthen the HBCC sector and helping children in all early childhood settings grow, develop and thrive.”
Its projects include the federally funded Center for Home-based Child Care Research focused on understanding supply and access in HBCC and building research capacity in the field. In addition, the Initiative conducts privately funded research, supported by foundations like the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Home Grown, among others. The initiative has a strategic partnership with Early Childhood Solutions focused on building a provider-informed research agenda and translation of research for policy and practice audiences. The team partners with states on evaluation of publicly funded supports for the HBCC sector.
Through this work, UD fills a critical gap in research on HBCC, the oldest and most-prevalent form of child care in the United States.
“Many more children—especially infants and toddlers—school-age children, children from marginalized communities, immigrant communities and children of color are cared for in home-based child care settings than in any other type of care,” said Bromer, who has studied early childhood development and HBCC for 30 years. “We know that these settings align with what children need to develop and thrive, including individualized, responsive and nurturing relationships. And yet, HBCC has been a very under-recognized and underfunded sector of the early childhood field.”
The work of the Home-based Child Care Research Initiative began this academic year, as the team welcomed new researchers, received new grants and established itself on UD’s campus. This month, Hallam will speak about the Initiative at the fifth annual 1st State Family Child Care Conference, hosted by DIEEC in partnership with the Delaware Department of Education on October 17, 2026.
“I am thrilled to continue this important work at UD and to deepen our existing relationships with the Delaware family child care community,” Bromer said.
To learn more about CEHD research in early childhood, visit its research webpage. To learn more about the Home-based Child Care Research Initiative or the services that DIEEC provides for all early childhood providers, visit its website.
Header image caption: With the Home-Based Child Care Research Initiative, UD will serve as a hub for critical research on home-based child care.
Article by Jessica Henderson. Photos by iStock and courtesy of Juliet Bromer.