Facts In Action

Sometimes overshadowed by the relationships between caregivers and children are the important relationships between child care providers and parents. Juliet Bromer, a researcher at the University of Chicago, examined the ways family child care providers communicate with and help parents as part of a project exploring family child care providers' views about the roles they play in the lives of low-income parents and communities. For this part of the study, Bromer interviewed seven African-American licensed family child care providers in their homes, focusing on the relationships they formed with the parents of the children in their care. Each provider was caring for children ranging in age from infancy to school-aged, primarily from low-income families.

While fostering the social/emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children is their primary function, Bromer was struck by how the providers she interviewed saw themselves filling a variety of non-caregiving roles, including giving moral, marital, and religious advice to parents. For example, one provider Bromer interviewed reported that she had assisted a mother with the down payment on a house. Bromer believes the work that family child care providers do beyond traditional child caregiving is a form of community development.

The "ethic of caring" for more than just the children in their care displayed by family child care providers can be attributed to several factors, according to Bromer. For instance, the setting - the provider's own home - may promote more personal relationships between parent and caregiver. Additionally, since providers are community-based, they may be more concerned about neighborhood quality-of-life issues in addition to the individual child's development. This stands in contrast to center-based child care teachers who commute to work and may not have a stake in the community in which they are employed.

Bromer identified two styles in which family child care providers gave support or advice to parents. Some providers emphasized objectivity, being a good listener, and using professional knowledge. One provider who fit in this category talked about wanting to help support parents in need without stepping over the boundaries of parents' personal lives. When providers giving this style of support recognize a potential problem with a child in their care, they tend to notify the parent in a non-threatening manner and provide suggestions for improvement by providing brochures or handouts on the issue in question.

Previous research on cultural differences in educational and communication styles suggests that African-American teachers and service professionals may have interaction styles that are more direct, authoritative, and dynamic than those of their white counterparts. This is illustrated by the second style of support Bromer identified, in which providers are more direct, personal, authoritative, and even confrontational. A provider in this category described the mothers of the children she cares for as "my girls," and used unequivocal terms such as "have to" and "need to" when describing parental responsibilities. Another made similar statements to parents, using phrases such as "you can't afford a car" and "you got to keep on going."

These two styles reflect different cultural worlds - one is more professional and objective, the other more authoritative and direct. However, the caregivers interviewed do not strictly adhere to one style or another. Instead, it seems many providers go back and forth between communication strategies from both the professional world of education and social work practice and their own cultural and personal values. Bromer concludes that although the family support and early childhood education literatures consider nondirective, objective to be empowering, these styles of support are not necessarily the only or best ways to help parents.

This dynamic has implications for training FCC providers, not because they should be required to carry out parental caretaking duties, but because the fact that they are filling multiple roles needs to be acknowledged, and those who choose to serve many roles should be supported. Bromer said these findings suggest professional training programs for family child care providers need to consider the diverse styles of helping and advising of caregivers and the community context in which the provider operates - "it may not be accurate to adapt center-based (traits) to family child care," she said. Bromer stressed that the emphasis should not be on whether family child care providers must be prepared to carry out these multiple roles, but the importance of recognizing that in many cases, they are doing much more than caring for and educating children.

Sources:
"Helpers, Mothers, and Preachers: the Multiple Roles and Discourses of Family Child Care Providers in an African-American Community," J. Bromer, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Volume 16, Number 3, 2001; phone interview with Ms. Bromer, November 12, 2001.

For more information:
contact Juliet Bromer, Committee on Human Development, University of Chicago, 5600 South Dorchester Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, or email jbromer@ccp.uchicago.edu.

Facts in Action, December 2001