Caring for Our Children (CFOC) is a set of national standards that represent the best practices — based on evidence, expertise, and experience — for quality health and safety policies and practices in early care and education settings. CFOC Basics represents the minimum health and safety standards required in Head Start and is a subset of the CFOC national standards. Explore this collection to learn more about these important resources.
The full text of Caring for Our Children (575 pages) is available for free as a PDF or can be purchased as a printed book.
Update October 2025: Caring For Our Children was abruptly dropped from the National Resource Center website on October 1, 2025. Not all of the details are known; it appears this resource is no longer funded.
