Thousands of family child care providers in Maryland are uniting to improve the quality of child care services in our communities and help more working families find affordable, quality child care options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do family child care providers want to form a union?
What changes do providers hope to win?
How is a union different from a child care association?
Will other organizations still be able to represent providers?
Will family providers be considered public employees?
Will it change parents’ relationship with providers?
Will it be easier for working parents to find child care?
Will higher reimbursement rates affect costs for parents?

Why do family child care providers want to form a union?

Family child care providers know what it takes to deliver quality child care that parents can afford. But many of the decisions that affect us and the families we serve are made without formal input from providers. Outdated state reimbursement rates and a lack of affordable health care are driving experienced providers out of the profession, making it harder for working parents to find quality child care when they need it.

By forming a union, we can work together with the state to improve Maryland’s child care system and make sure providers can keep doing the job we love.

What do providers hope to change through negotiations with the state?

Our priorities are higher reimbursement rates and affordable health insurance to recruit and retain good, experienced providers; health and safety standards that allow us to keep children safe and to focus on their care and development; and greater access and support for training and professional development.

How is a family child care union different from a child care association?

By electing one organization to represent providers across the state, providers who participate in POC will gain a united voice to negotiate a legally binding contract with the state to raise standards for our profession. Registered providers hope to win a formal, regular channel of communication on regulatory issues so that providers can help the state develop rules that protect kids and help providers keep serving our communities. Once providers are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, we would also have better access to group health insurance plans.

Will other organizations still be able to represent providers?

Yes. Many voices—including providers’ professional associations and Maryland’s early care organizations—would continue to advocate policies and reforms at the state and local level on behalf of providers and the child care industry. Our union would exclusively represent family child care providers only during formal negotiations with the state, and would not replace other provider organizations that advocate for improved child care services in Maryland.

Provider organizations share the common goals of improving quality child care and helping providers have a voice in decisions that affect us and the kids we care for. By forming our union we hope to add strength to our child care associations.

With or without a union, family child care providers will remain independent contractors, not state employees. Family child care providers will continue to make our own decisions about our child care homes, and the individual, personal relationships we have with parents would not change. Collective bargaining is simply a formal process for us to interact with the state on particular issues.

Will this make it easier to for working parents to find child care?

If providers negotiate an improved reimbursement rate, Purchase of Care vouchers would have a higher value, and parents who depend on them would have access to a broader range of child care options.

Improving the recruitment and retention of experienced early educators will increase the quality child care options available to all parents in Maryland.

Will negotiating higher reimbursement rates affect costs for parents?

Providers are joining together to make quality child care more affordable for everyone. Parents are some of the strongest supporters of providers forming a union with SEIU Kids First because they know that increasing reimbursement rates and winning more public funding for child care will ultimately lower the cost of quality care for many parents. Currently, many working families pay huge child care copayments each month—if they can get access to care at all. SEIU providers in other states have successfully lowered parent copays and improved parents’ access to affordable care.