The Constraints of Choice: The Role of Race/Ethnicity, Class, and Community Context in Child Care Decisions
Laughlin, Lynda L., 2004
Temple University

An examination of the role of contextual variables in mothers’ child care choices, through an identification of how child care decisions are shaped by race/ethnicity, class, and community contexts, using quantitative data from the Philadelphia Survey of Child Care and Work, and from the City of Philadelphia. The study investigates the following questions: (1) How does the neighborhood supply of licensed child care affect the use of formal or informal child care?; (2) How do child care decisions vary by racial/ethnic and socioeconomic class characteristics?; (3) How do household demographics and work characteristics influence mothers’ use of formal or informal child care?; (4) How does a mother’s social networks and other resources affect her use of formal or informal care?; (5) What are the consequences of using formal or informal care?; and (6) How do the previous issues vary by neighborhood/community context? The policy implication of this study is the importance of how communities act as a medium through which the supply of, and access to, child care can be measured

Child Care Bureau/OPRE Projects

Child care decision-making: a Key Topic Resource List
Child Care & Early Education Research Connections, April 2009
New York: Child Care & Early Education Research Connections

A compilation of selected Research Connections resources focused on the child care choices of parents with young children, including a summary of issues addressed in the literature, and a list of resources in the areas of choices associated with: parental characteristics, child characteristics, parental employment status, type of child care, perceptions of quality, market characteristics, financial assistance, and consumer education

Bibliographies

The effects of welfare policy on child care decisions: Evidence from ten experimental welfare-to-work programs
Robins, Philip K., 2003
(Next Generation Working Paper Series No. 18). New York: MDRC.

A study examining the child care choices made by families on welfare due to changes in welfare policies by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)

Reports & Papers

The Intersection of Access and Quality: Examining the Effects of Child Care Subsidy System Policies and Practices on Parental Decision Making
Butler, Susan, 2009
Brandeis University

A mixed methods examination of how child care subsidy policies and practices affect the child care decisions of parents, specifically the quality of child care parents choose. The responsiveness of child care subsidy policies to the needs of low income families and the implementation of these policies have been identified as important variables in the child care decision-making processes of parents. The devolved nature of child care subsidy disbursement to the county level has resulted in important differences in both the content and implementation of subsidy policies and provides an opportunity to examine the impact of the policies themselves, as well as their implementation. This study is designed to answer two research questions. First, in what ways do child care subsidy policies and procedures vary in their responsiveness to family needs, both as they are written and as subsidy workers implement them? And second, how does the variation in the implementation of these child care subsidy policies, as determined by adherence, or lack thereof, to written policies, affect parental decision making as it relates to high quality child care choices? This study uses implementation and decision-making theory to understand the dynamics between caseworkers and parents in the child care subsidy system and the relationship of these dynamics to the decision parents make.

Child Care Bureau/OPRE Projects

Exploring Parent Decision-Making: Subsidies, Employment, and Child Care
Carlin, Caroline, 2009
University of Minnesota

A project using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Birth Cohort to examine the complexity of child care and employment decisions. Specifically, the study aims to: (a) determine how child care subsidies affect parents' decisions about employment, the use of non-parental child care, and the type of child care used; (b) measure the changes in child care decisions over time; and (c) examine how child care subsidies affect parents' decisions about the quality of child care used. It is expected that results of the study will inform policy with an increased knowledge of the interrelated nature of employment and child care choices, and the influence of child care subsidies on those choices.

Child Care Bureau/OPRE Projects

Making an informed decision on employment and child care
Levasseur, Dawn C., 2004
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Capella University, Minneapolis, MN

An account of the development and evaluation of a guide to employment and child care decisions for parents of young children, using data from an educational research and development project in the Tolland, CT school district, and addressing issues of brain development, attachment theory, quality care studies, family and medical leave legislation, financial considerations, and alternative work options

Reports & Papers

Child care resource and referral programs and parents' search for quality child care
Fuqua, Robert W., 1989
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 4(3), 357-365

A survey of 107 parents and discussion of the correlation between their child care decisions and use of child care resource and referral programs

Reports & Papers

Working later in Illinois: Works schedules, incomes and parents’ access to child care [Executive summary]
Stoll, Marcia, May 2006
Chicago: Illinois Action for Children.

A summary of an exploration of the relationship between parents’ nonstandard work hours and their access to child care, and an inquiry into the influence of work hours and child care access on child care decisions

Executive Summary

Urban Zimbabwean mothers' choices and perceptions of care for young children
Johnson, Deborah J., 1997
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12(2), 199-219

A discussion of the influence of Zimbabwean mothers’ perceptions of types and quality of child care on their child care decisions

Reports & Papers

Women’s reflections on choosing quality long day care in a regional community
Harris, Nonie, September 2008
Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 33(3), 42-49

An exploration of factors influencing mothers’ child care decisions, based on interviews with 20 mothers with children in child care in Townsville, Australia

Reports & Papers

The Effects of Quality Information and Financial Assistance on Child Care Choices and Employment Outcomes of Low-Income Families in Minnesota
Tout, Kathryn, 2007
Child Trends

The study builds on an existing evaluation of a pilot quality rating system (QRS) by examining how low-income families in Minnesota make child care decisions. This study explores how families navigate the complex array of child care settings, financial resources, and information about available child care and how the implementation of the QRS affects these processes. The project tracks individuals in QRS and non-QRS communities for two years to gather data for descriptive analyses and the testing of econometric models. The following broad research questions are addressed: (1) What factors influence awareness of and use of QRS information in choice of child care setting? What are the characteristics of families using the QRS? How does the QRS affect choice of child care? (2) Does the QRS affect the use of subsidies? Does the type of setting chosen affect the use of subsidies? Which characteristics of the family are associated with use of CCAP subsidies? (3) How do subsidies affect choice of child care? Do subsidies change the type of child care chosen? Do subsidies change the quality of child care chosen? Is the use of subsidies associated with more stable child care arrangements over time? (4) What factors influence child care stability, reliability, and employment outcomes? Findings from the study will be used to inform the pilot QRS and to provide information to state and federal policymakers about how factors such as the type and quality of care chosen are related to the stability of child care and, in turn, to low-income parents' employment and family outcomes.

Child Care Bureau/OPRE Projects

Determinants of child care mode choice: An economic perspective
Lehrer, Evelyn, 1983
Social Science Research, 12(1), 69-80

A study of two-earner households' child care decisions, presenting evidence that economic and demographic variables are important determinants of the type of child care such households utilize

Reports & Papers