This brief provides an overview of opportunities, challenges, and steps needed to expand infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) to support more home-based child care (HBCC) providers. It is one of a series of briefs on supporting HBCC providers’ participation in a number of federal programs or service systems. Based on interviews with experts and a review of the literature, we first describe the HBCC context and how it is unique and then describe the basics of mental health consultation, how it is funded, and its benefits for child care providers and children. We discuss challenges and considerations for expanding IECMHC to support more HBCC providers, recommended action steps, and future directions for research to address gaps in knowledge.

This brief is part a series focused on supporting greater home-based child care provider participation in various federal programs or service systems.