It rated only 9 percent of the home-based care as high quality.

Last year, home-based care cost the state an average of $230 a month; the comparable figure for nursing-home care was $962.

In most cases, children in home-based care are also on a care and protection order.

As with the majority of child protection services, states and territories are responsible for funding home-based care.

She said that many families preferred home-based care, although she could not provide an exact breakdown.

Some states have initiatives to link reverse mortgages and home-based care.

Maryland, for instance, limits home-based care to a maximum of six children.

Providing home-based end-of-life care should be a positive experience.

In this century Americans have moved from home-based care to hospital treatment and now to treatment at the community level.

Still, home-based care, in which several children are cared for by one person in his or her home, appears to pose the most risk.