Better Baby Care is Zero to Three's project to improve the quality of care for infants and toddlers. In Pennsylvania, PPC and Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth lead the Better Baby Care coalition, a diverse group of advocates, providers, researchers, and health care professionals striving to make child care a quality experience that encourages developmental progress.

Better Baby Care's coalition members work together for quality because nearly 60 percent of Pennsylvania children from birth to age 3 are regularly cared for outside the home, with relatives or in child care settings and nursery schools.

But in 2002, Governor Mark Schweiker's Task Force on Early Childhood Care and Education labeled most child care in Pennsylvania as "minimal quality." The state should define quality in child care, the task force recommended, and apply standards aligned with young children's developmental needs.

Nearly 6 million American children spend time in child care, according to Zero to Three, a national organization promoting the healthy development of infants and toddlers. In Pennsylvania, 230,000 women with children under age 3 are in the workforce. Child care is "second only to the immediate family" as the place where "early childhood unfolds," according to the Better Baby Care Web site.

In its two-year campaign, the Better Baby Care coalition is:

• Inventorying available programs and documenting parents' needs.
  
• Identifying best practices, strategies, and resources for infant/toddler care quality.
  
• Developing policy recommendations and a workplan of government relations, communications, and community mobilization efforts to advance them.
  
• Publishing briefing papers on the issue.

Through workgroups devoted to home-based child care, higher education for teachers, and care for children with special needs, the coalition is examining current conditions and developing policy recommendations for better-quality child care.
For more information, contact Early Childhood Education Director, Diane Barber at 717-236-5680, ext. 210; dbarber@papartnerships.org, or Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, www.pccy.org, 215-563-5848.

In 2006, the Better Baby Care Campaign became a part of a new effort called the ZERO TO THREE Policy Network. The ZERO TO THREE Policy Network is a vehicle for infant-toddler professionals to use their knowledge and expertise to impact public policy so that all babies have good health, strong families and positive early learning experiences. Inspired by the successes and accomplishments of the Better Baby Care Campaign, the ZERO TO THREE Policy Network is coordinated by the ZERO TO THREE Policy Center.

• Zero to Three Policy Network: The Zero to Three Policy Network site overviews state efforts, emerging research, and available resources to improve quality in infant/toddler care including the e-newsletter, The Baby Monitor.
• Zero to Three: A national organization promoting the healthy development of infants and toddlers by supporting and strengthening families, communities, and those who work on their behalf. Zero to Three provides information, promotes beneficial policies and practices, and provides training, technical assistance and leadership development.
• National Infant & Toddler Child Care Initiative: The National Infant & Toddler Child Care Initiative, a partnership between Zero to Three and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Child Care Information Center, provides information and education on state child care systems, initiatives targeting infants and toddlers, and publications on building early childhood education systems that support infants and toddlers.