Our Work
Maryland Family Network strengthens families, supports providers, and helps communities give every child a strong start. We’re the only statewide organization that connects family support, early learning, and policy advocacy—so every Maryland child, regardless of background, can thrive during the years that matter most.
For Families
Early Head Start (EHS)
Maryland Family Network coordinates Maryland’s largest network of EHS programs. Every year, EHS centers serve hundreds of children and their families, providing a flexible and integrated set of supports for infants, toddlers, and their families.
Patty Center - Family Support Programs
All families need support from time to time to accomplish educational goals, increase parenting skills, care for their mental and physical well-being, or have meaningful conversations with others experiencing similar challenges and joys. That’s what Maryland Family Network’s Patty Centers – Family Support Programs offer to expectant mothers and families through age four.
Families Leading Maryland
Families Leading Maryland is a coalition focused on cultivating and elevating parent leadership—especially among families with young children—through political engagement and advocacy. Through this effort families come together to shape policies that affect early childhood supports and services.
LOCATE: Child Care
Maryland Family Network’s LOCATE: Child Care is a free and confidential service connecting you to licensed child care programs in Maryland that meet your family’s individual needs. LOCATE: Child Care includes all licensed child care centers, family child care homes, Early Head Start and Head Start programs, before/after school programs, and more.
Parent Cafés
One of the ways Maryland Family Network helps parents and other caregivers build strong families is through Parent Cafés. These are two-hour, structured get-togethers that offer a welcoming and supportive safe space where parents and caregivers can connect, share experiences, and learn from each other.
Parent Leadership Institute
Maryland Family Network’s Parent Leadership Institute helps parents grow as leaders, build support networks, and strengthen their families and communities. Over the course of two engaging two-day sessions held twice a year, parents from Maryland Family Network’s Patty Centers – Family Support Programs and EHS Centers across Maryland come together to learn and grow as leaders in their homes and communities.
Strong Families Maryland
Maryland Family Network is the state lead agency for Strengthening Families Maryland. This proven approach does more than prevent child maltreatment. It promotes family resiliency through resources for parents, locally developed community initiatives, workforce training, and statewide grant-making.
For Providers
Early Childhood Career Hub
The Hub is a statewide jobs board dedicated to connecting early childhood professionals with career opportunities. The Hub features employer and job seeker profiles plus Google Job Network integration for wider reach.
Growing Opportunities for Family Child Care (GOFCC)
GOFCC is a unique initiative that provides intense and targeted training, coaching, and resources to support individuals interested in opening a family child care business.
Maryland Shared Services Alliance (The Alliance)
The Alliance helps child care programs save costs and time through shared knowledge and resources with benefits like purchasing discounts, unlimited job postings on the Maryland Early Childhood Career Hub, a resource library, and monthly opportunities for connection and learning.
Child Care Resource Network
Maryland Family Network provides comprehensive services to families, early childhood educators, and child care programs through the Maryland Child Care Resource Network (MCCRN). The MCCRN is a statewide system of Child Care Resource Centers (CCRCs) that offer professional development, capacity building, coaching, and other resources to early childhood educators and child care programs.
Training for Child Care Professionals
Maryland Family Network believes training should be easy to access and fit the busy schedule of child care professionals. That’s why our trainers offer online and in-person options whenever possible. We also only offer training that is approved by the Maryland State Department of Education Office of Child Care to meet the Maryland Child Care Credential and licensing requirements.
Policy, Pilots, Studies, and Planning
Advocacy and Public Policy
Advocacy is a cornerstone of what we do. Each year Maryland Family Network leads the charge to protect and advance investments, policies, and programs that expand opportunities for young children and all those concerned with their well-being – parents, child care providers, advocates, and community leaders.
Baltimore Downtown RISE
The cost of child care in Baltimore City is out of financial reach for too many families. As a part of Downtown RISE, Baltimore’s Downtown Action plan, Baltimore City is exploring the development of new child care initiatives, and is partnering with MFN to explore the development of new child care programs that can be implemented at a local level and/or lobbied for at the state level.
Baltimore Police Department Child Care Subsidy Pilot Case Study
Maryland Family Network is partnering with the Baltimore City Police Department to analyze the impact of a pilot program providing child care subsidies to city police officers, report on key findings, and make recommendations to improve and grow these types of efforts in the future.
Employer Supports and Strategies
Maryland Family Network is partnering with employers, government, and business leaders to elevate child care as a core business strategy—strengthening recruitment, retention, and overall economic growth. Through strategic partnerships and employer-focused tools, this initiative helps businesses support employees’ child care needs, strengthening workforce stability and driving economic development across Maryland. For more information, contact us.
Maryland Child Care Substitute Feasibility Pilot
The Maryland Child Care Substitute Feasibility Pilot is a low-cost, 6-month program proposed by Maryland Family Network to design the infrastructure for a statewide substitute pool, aiming to mitigate the severe child care staffing crisis. This pilot focuses on testing a centralized model where MFN acts as the employer-of-record, securely managing one file for each substitute to streamline vetting and compliance for participating child care programs. It will be a service of the Maryland Shared Services Alliance when it is launched as a full-scale service.
Partnership with Morgan State University’s National Center for the Elimination of Educational Disparities (NCEED)
Maryland Family Network is launching a partnership with Morgan State University’s National Center for the Elimination of Educational Disparities (NCEED) to strengthen analysis of Maryland Family Network and national Kids Count datasets to create actionable policy insights. This work will help build a long-term data engagement infrastructure to better understand and address educational disparities across Maryland.
Unique Identifier Early Childhood Education
Maryland Family Network is pushing to expand Maryland’s State Assigned Student Identification (SASID) system to include children enrolled in licensed child care and private pre-kindergarten programs. Currently, this unique identifier is only assigned to students enrolled in a public school district and follows the student through any Maryland public institution of higher education. The expansion will allow Maryland to follow student progress and outcomes from early childhood through their academic and workforce careers. This change is critical for evaluating program effectiveness, identifying best practices, supporting the transition of students between each level of education, and advancing the early childhood education goals of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
Annual Events
Annual First Years Fundraising Event
First Years is Maryland Family Network’s annual fundraiser, and is a critical part of our fundraising efforts each year. Learn More about our most recent First Year’s event.
Sandra J. Skolnik Lecture on Early Childhood Education & Advocacy
Each year Maryland Family presents the only event of its kind in Maryland that brings together great thinkers in the fields of early care and education to present and discuss the latest research, policy, and visions for the future.
Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick Leadership Award in Early Care & Education
The Grasmick Award is given annually to a champion for children who, through their outstanding record of accomplishments, exemplifies the commitment to young children, their families, their teachers, and child care providers that Dr. Grasmick embodied throughout her career.
Past Programs and Initiatives
Maryland Child Care Boost