Balance Report

FCCE developed the Balance Report© to provide insight to family child care providers, their motivations, strengths and challenges, and shed light on barriers to recruitment and retention. The Balance Report© reflects data collected from a provider survey and is presented in the format of 3 Wheels: Business, Educator, and Personal.

The 3 Wheels are similar to riding a tricycle – when all three wheels have strong spokes, and are balanced, it is easy to move forward. However, when there are missing spokes, it creates weak and flat spots in the wheel, affecting all wheels, making it more difficult to move forward. The goal is to identify and strengthen the weak spokes, creating balance, strength and forward movement between all 3 Wheels.

By targeting support (and dollars) to create balance, stress is decreased for the provider, their families, and the families and children they serve. This expands the mental bandwidth for providers to move forward and be successful in quality improvements and ensures the success of the family child care business.

The Balance Report data can be used not only to give us information about specific providers, but allows us to identify trends at the organization, system or state level, and shed light on issues contributing to retention and recruitment issues.