Across North Carolina, families depend on home-based child care, which are small, in-home programs offering personalized, flexible care. These providers are especially important in rural areas, where large child care centers may not exist or may be too far away.
While demand for home-based care is growing, the economic reality for providers is harsh: long hours, low pay, and complicated rules that make it hard to stay in business.
A Broken Model—And the Toll It’s Taking
Let’s look at the facts:
- 85% of NC’s child care closures since 2020 were home-based businesses.
- The average home-based provider earns less than $11/hour, far less than center-based staff.
- Regulations max care at five children at a time, capping their income even if demand is high.
These small businesses are closing—not because families don’t need them, but because their model is no longer sustainable. Even though many home-based providers have decades of experience and deep relationships with the children they care for, their role is often undervalued. Without them, child care deserts grow wider.
What Makes Home-Based Care Unique?
Home-based providers offer something special:
- Mixed-age groups that feel like family
- Flexible hours for parents working evenings or weekends
- Continuity of care from the same trusted adult
- Local care options in places where centers don’t exist
These benefits matter, especially for families in rural or under-resourced communities.
But despite their importance, home-based providers face huge barriers:
- Low subsidy rates
- Complex licensing rules
- Isolation from peers
- Little access to business or training support
Many have no staff and must play every role: caregiver, cook, accountant, cleaner, and more. It’s no surprise that so many providers burn out or leave the field.
What’s Standing in the Way?
Home-based providers told us the truth: “I love the kids, but can’t afford to keep going.” The challenges they describe are real:
- High startup costs just to get licensed
- Lost income when a child is absent or a payment is late
- Confusing rules that don’t fit small, home-based programs
- No time for training because they work alone
For North Carolina to have a strong, equitable child care system, we must support home-based providers as part of the solution, not an afterthought.
What Can Be Done?
Thankfully, there are policy solutions that work. In our latest brief, we highlight what other states are doing—and how North Carolina can lead:
- Set a statewide floor for subsidy reimbursement rates
- Use federal child care funds to support startup grants, training, and coaching
- Make regulatory visits more supportive, not just compliance checks
- Build staffed networks that offer professional development and peer connection
These changes could transform home-based child care into a viable career, not just a stopgap for families with few options.
Read the full brief here: Home-Based Child Care: Transforming a Failed Business Model
Take Action Today
You have a role to play if you’re a parent, provider, or advocate. Here’s how you can help shape the future of child care in North Carolina’s rural communities:
- Educate Yourself and Others: Stay up to date on child care challenges and solutions. Join the NCECF email list to receive advocacy resources and future calls to action. Use what you learn to inform others in your community.
- Engage with Policymakers: Your voice matters whether you’re a provider trying to stay open or a parent struggling to find care. Use these talking points when speaking with legislators:
- Home-based providers are essential to preventing child care deserts, especially in rural North Carolina. Without them, families lose access to nearby, affordable care.
- We need a statewide subsidy rate floor so that home-based providers earn the same fair pay as center-based programs. Right now, many can’t make ends meet.
- Support funding for start-up grants and networks that help home-based providers succeed. With the right support, more caregivers could enter—and stay in—the field.
- Share Your Story: Your experience is powerful. Share how child care access—or lack of it—has affected your job, family, or students. Post on social media, tag your legislators, or submit your story to local media or advocacy campaigns.
Looking Ahead
The next brief in our series will give you tools and resources to help you advocate for the kind of child care system North Carolina needs—one that works for families, supports providers, and builds strong communities. When home-based providers thrive, children, parents, and communities thrive, too.
Let’s make sure North Carolina’s child care system includes—and supports—every kind of provider.