Caring for children of color: The child care patterns of white, black, and Hispanic children under 5
Capizzano, Jeffrey, 2006
(Occasional Paper No. 72). Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

A study of child care arrangement patterns across groups of white, African American and Hispanic children

Reports & Papers

Child care and welfare reform
Adams, Gina, 2002
(Welfare Reform & Beyond Policy Brief No. 14). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

An overview the evolution of federal child care subsidy policy since 1996, a discussion of the use of subsidized child care among low-income populations, and an identification of possible themes in the debate over the reauthorization of federal funds for the subsidy, expansion, and improvement of child care and early education services

Fact Sheets & Briefs

Child care centers, child care subsidies, and faith-based organizations: Preliminary findings on five counties in 2003
Adams, Gina, 2005
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

Preliminary findings about the role of faith-based organizations in child care provision, and their rates of participation in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) voucher subsidy system

Fact Sheets & Briefs

Child Care Choices of Low-Income Families with Vulnerabilities
Chaudry, Ajay, 2007
Urban Institute

This project explores the ways in which low-income, vulnerable families choose child care. The goal is to identify the family characteristics and contextual factors that expand or limit child care choices. The three-year project takes place in several low-income, urban communities participating in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections initiative. The proposed sites for the Child Care Choices of Low-Income Families with Vulnerabilities project are Oakland, Providence, Seattle, and Denver. The focus is on vulnerable families, including families who have children with special needs, parents who are English language learners or immigrants, parents receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and children at risk of maltreatment. The research includes a family study and a community study. The family study includes two rounds of field-based, semi-structured interviews with parents regarding their decision-making processes related to child care. The community study, which takes place between the two rounds of family interviews, includes interviews with key community members regarding the community and policy contexts that affect child care choices. The following research questions are addressed: (1) What factors influence choice of care among low-income working families in a diverse set of urban neighborhoods? How do different families with particular vulnerabilities make child care choices?; (2) How do child care choice processes of parents overall, and particularly families who have special vulnerabilities, interact with several key contextual factors (e.g., job options, local policies and programs)?; and (3) What family characteristics or contextual factors seem to particularly expand or constrain the child care choices of low-income families overall, and the lives of vulnerable families in particular? Which of these seem amenable to policy strategies to support choices for low-income working families, and what should these strategies be?

Child Care Bureau/OPRE Projects

Child care subsidies and leaving welfare: Policy issues and strategies
Adams, Gina, 2006
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

The second part of a three-part study of the interaction between state and local welfare-to-work programs and child care assistance programs, focusing on child care subsidy use by parents in transition from TANF to employment

Reports & Papers

Child care subsidies and TANF: A synthesis of three studies on systems, policies, and parents
Holcomb, Pamela A., 2006
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

A summary of findings from a three-part study of the interaction between state and local welfare-to-work programs and child care assistance programs, focusing on administrative structures, protocols and interagency coordination as they affect administrators and TANF parents, child care subsidy use by parents in transition to work, and the experiences of current and former TANF recipients with the subsidy system

Other

Child care subsidies for TANF families: The nexus of systems and policies [Executive Summary]
Adams, Gina, 2006
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

Summary of the first of a three-part study of the interaction between state and local welfare-to-work programs and child care assistance programs, focusing on administrative structures, protocols and interagency coordination as they affect TANF parents

Executive Summary

Child care voucher programs: Provider experiences in five counties
Adams, Gina, 2008
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

A study of child care providers’ experiences with the voucher systems funded by the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) and used to subsidize child care for low income families, based on a survey of approximately 300 staff and providers from five counties in four states

Reports & Papers

Child care vouchers and unregulated family, friend, and neighbor care
Snyder, Kathleen, 2008
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

A study of providers of unregulated family, friend, and neighbor care who participate in the voucher system of subsidized care to determine their characteristics and their perceptions of policy, and a study of the voucher agencies’ experiences with family, friend, and neighbor caregivers, among samples of caregivers and voucher agency staff in five counties from four states

Reports & Papers

Children in low-income families are less likely to be in center-based child care
Capizzano, Jeffrey, 2004
(Snapshot of America's Families III No. 16). Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

A brief comparing the child care arrangements of children under five from high- and low-income families.

Fact Sheets & Briefs

Designing subsidy systems to meet the needs of families: An overview of policy research findings [Executive summary]
Adams, Gina, 2008
Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.

A summary of a synthesis of strategies used by state and local agencies to support parents through the process of accessing and retaining child care subsidies

Executive Summary

Early care and education for children in low-income families: Patterns of use, quality, and potential policy implications [Executive summary]
Adams, Gina, May 2007
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

A summary of a review of research in four areas: 1) child care and early education usage patterns among children from low-income families, 2) child care and early education quality and its relation to child development, 3) child care and early education quality for children from low-income families, and 4) the policy context shaping child care and early education quality

Executive Summary