RAPID Survey storybook: Sharing child care providers’ voices and experiences

Child care providers play an important role in supporting families and shaping the next generation. Providers are a steady presence in the lives of the young children, during a time that research shows is the foundation for rapid and important brain development. Through this digital storybook, we illustrate the joys, challenges, and insights that providers have shared with the RAPID Survey Project over the past few years. Our open-ended survey questions offered providers opportunities to describe in their own words their experiences caring for children under age 6. We also sought to understand where providers themselves find support.

In this storybook, the reward, responsibility, and sense of pride and dedication that providers have for their work emerges. These themes underscore the strength and resilience of providers in what have been challenging times. Explore this selection of national survey responses from 2021-2023.

As you reach the end of this storybook, we invite you to reflect on the insights shared by child care providers, and celebrate their resourcefulness and commitment to the children and families in their care. Through these provider voices and stories, we hope to inspire and lift up caregivers around the world, reminding them that despite challenges and adversity, they are unified in their goal of nurturing and supporting young children’s healthy development.