Reaching Parents with Child Care Consumer Education.

Overview & Synopsis

This booklet touches on many topics related to child care consumer education for parents. The booklet begins by defining child care consumer education, discussing this education as a way to provide parents with child care information to assess their needs, locate services, evaluate quality, and choose the best possible care for their children. The booklet asserts that parents need information, personal attention, and access to support during the process of choosing child care. The booklet describes Child Care Aware, a national initiative to provide information about child care to parents, and also describes Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs). The second section of the booklet, "What States Are Doing," describes how several states have used Child Development Block Grants to develop innovative consumer education initiatives. The booklet concludes with a list of national organizations working in the area of child care consumer education. (EV)