Project: Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education

Balancing Priorities: Foster Parents’ Child Care Search and Selection Process

Post author Nancy Perez, Todd Grindal, Kirby Chow, Sheila Smith, Nicola Connors Edge, Maribel Granja
Project Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education;
Publication Type Fact Sheet
Post date March 21, 2025

The Arkansas Office of Early Childhood is collaborating with SRI International, the National Center for Children in Poverty, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to learn about the supply, quality, and stability of early care and education (ECE) for children in foster care, as well as the facilitators and barriers to children in […]

Early Care and Education Is an Essential Component of the Foster Care System: A View From Arkansas

Post author Todd Grindal, Sheila Smith, Kirby Chow, Nicola Connors Edge, Nancy Perez, Maribel R. Granja
Project Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education;
Publication Type Fact Sheet
Post date March 21, 2025

Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High-Quality Early Care and Education: Administrative Data Findings (Conference poster)

Post author Todd Grindal, Nancy Perez, Kirby Chow, Sheila Smith, Nicola Connors Edge
Project Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education;
Publication Type
Post date June 21, 2024

This conference poster presents findings from an analysis of Arkansas’s administrative data. We compare the quality, stability, and accessibility of subsidized early care and education (ECE) for young children in foster care using Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) vouchers to ECE for all other Arkansas children using CCDF vouchers. We also examine the landscape […]

Improving Participation in High-Quality Early Care and Education for Young Arkansas Children: Perspectives of Resource Parents and Early Childhood Educators

Post author Kirby Chow, Sheila Smith, Nancy Perez, Todd Grindal, Nicola Connors Edge, Maribel R. Granja
Project Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education;
Publication Type Report
Post date December 1, 2023

High-quality early care and education (ECE) provides a developmentally supportive environment for children in foster care that can help address early adversities, but recent studies have shown low levels of ECE participation among these children (Klein et al., 2016; Lee, 2020). To address this important issue, the Arkansas Office of Early Childhood (OEC) is collaborating […]