At a virtual Coffee and Conversation event, on Thursday, to release new research and findings on the business of child care, Peter Ciurczak, senior research analyst at Boston Indicators, explained how it took his family three years to find daycare because he says there was a limited selection of candidates.

“One of the women we got in touch with, an immigrant who had come from abroad about 30 years ago and who had been running a home daycare for about as long as she’s been here, said, 'Hey, we have an opening in late April. Would you be interested in this?’” Ciurczak said in his opening remarks.

He said a better infrastructure for this line of work would create more options for families, and more financial success for providers.

“Success is hard,” Ciurczak said, “and we’re going to get into how we can really build on success and wealth-building for these small business owners and for this important community service.”

Family child care programs are an essential part of Massachusetts’ early education system. The small, home-based businesses have taken on a vital role in serving many of the commonwealth’s highest-need children and families. Yet family child care providers — mostly women of color — often earn some of the lowest wages in the field.

In a joint study done by policy research institutes MassBudget and the Boston Foundation, MassBudget Senior Policy Analyst Adam Jones provides recommendations for some of the financial challenges the industry faces.

“FCC providers face significant financial challenges due to low reimbursement rates, unpredictable revenue and high operating costs. This makes it difficult for them to build long-term financial health and security,” Jones said. “For women of color and new immigrant FCC owners especially, these challenges are rooted in systemic undervaluation of care.”

Boston Indicators, a research center at the Boston Foundation, commissioned the research as part of their Racial Wealth Equity Resource Center initiative. Jones’ research looks at what it would take to support family child care businesses and boost their platforms for building long-term wealth.

“FCCs operate under significant financial constraints: low reimbursement rates for state-subsidized care, unpredictable revenue streams, and high operating costs mean that many owners struggle to break even, let alone grow their businesses or depend on them to build long-term financial security,” Jones said.

Jones highlighted multiple recommendations, including revised reimbursement rates for child care providers . He says reimbursement payments drop off considerably for children older than 2. “Transitioning to a system where we have a single reimbursement rate for children from birth to five because we know that to providers those costs are the same and more aligned with the program structure.”

Jones says the Massachusetts Legislature removed the statutory cap on licensing capacity of up to 10 students, but the Department of Early Education and Care still has limits it up to 10 students.

“While I think it’s probably obvious what potential financial gain that would be for a provider in this situation, there are potential trade-offs when it comes to thinking about quality and the wellbeing of both children and educators,” Jones said.

He added that there need to be great strides in professionalizing this industry.

“We recommend that FCC educators have access to retirement accounts, ideally with some sort of state match,” he said. The report did not provide specific guidance on a potential retirement plan. Jones says this has come up in the past few years in the collective bargaining process but was not ratified. “Obviously still a priority.”

State Sen. Jason Lewis, the senate chair of the Joint Committee on Education, attended the virtual event. He says his office is looking into some of the challenges around insurance that family child care providers need. “Whether that’s their home insurance, homeowners insurance or liability insurance, and just the financial burden and pressure that’s placed on our FCCs,” he said. “We are looking at that issue as well and we certainly will be considering all the recommendations in this report as we go forward.”