Child Care & Early Learning

More than 35,000 home child care providers and child care center teachers and staff are united in SEIU Child Care & Early Learning, a division of SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana. Every day, we provide essential child care and early education that helps prepare young children for school and supports working parents. Whether we are a teacher in a pre-k classroom or Head Start classroom, a licensed home child care provider or a family, friend or neighbor caregiver, we all play an important role in young children’s care and early education.

Home child care providers first began building our union in 1996, when we struggled to get by on low rates and with no benefits. Illinois home child care providers were the first in the country to unite our voices in SEIU and since then we’ve negotiated two ground-breaking contracts for home child care providers in the Illinois Child Care Assistance Program– winning rate increases, rate add-ons for quality care and first-ever healthcare for thousands of Illinois child care providers.

Now center-based child care, Head Start and pre-Kindergarten workers– teachers, assistant teachers, family service workers, teacher aides, group workers, food aides, paraprofessionals and more—are uniting in SEIU for a stronger voice for quality care and early learning jobs.
Together, we’re fighting to make sure that all families have access to the quality, affordable care and education for their children and that caregivers and early childhood workers are recognized and respected for the important work we do.