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Falling Through the Cracks: Child Care Decision-Making Among the Working Poor
Moodie-Dyer, Amber, 2010
University of Missouri

The purpose of this project was to understand how different factors influence working poor parent's decision making and perceptions regarding their child care arrangements. Parents in a central Missouri community completed a survey which allowed them to assess their work flexibility, affordability concerns, experiences with child care subsidy and other types of child care financial assistance, caregiver flexibility, social support, and transportation barriers. These factors served as independent variables for the study. The survey also measured parental satisfaction, continuity of child care and how important quality and logistical concerns were in ideal and real child care decision making. Families in Missouri face one of the lowest subsidy eligibility cutoff points (127% of the federal poverty level [FPL]).Very few eligible families receive subsidies. Yet there has been an excess of funding in the subsidy system. Missouri stakeholders expressed a need to understand better why working poor parents choose certain types of child care and how they feel about the arrangements they obtain. Although much research has identified micro-level variables such as parent education and demographic characteristics that influence choice, less is known about how the broader context of family life shape parental decision-making and perceptions about child care. The Research question is: How do the following meso- and macro-level context conditions influence working poor parents: (1) Child care selection criteria; (2) Satisfaction with child care; and (3) Continuity of child care

Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects