Browse the Collection
|
|
Produced by Research Connections
Peer Reviewed JournalCurrent Filters: Pub Year:2007 [remove]; Project Type:CCPRP [remove];
8 results found.|
Select Citation
|
Result | Resource Type |
|
|
|
|
Child Care Choices of Low-Income Families with Vulnerabilities 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 sites 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? |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
|
|
|
|
|
Choice of Care Among Low-Income Working Families: A Study of Latino Families in the New South The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge about child care needs and utilization among Latino low-income working families living in North Carolina, one of the states in the South with the fastest Latino population growth in the last two decades. The majority of Latinos in the South are recent immigrants from Mexico and Central America, whose child care needs and preferences may be somewhat different from those of Latinos in states with long-standing Latino populations. Furthermore, the rapid growth of the Latino population in this part of the country is posing challenges to a child care system that is trying to meet the needs of a group that may not only have different cultural and linguistic characteristics, but also may be unfamiliar with child care options available. The research questions are: (1) How are family characteristics associated with Latino low-income parents' choice of care for their preschool age children?; (2) How are program characteristics associated with Latino low-income parents' choice of non-parental care?; and (3) What are Latino parents' views about the characteristics of quality care? And to what extent do the type and quality of child care used by Latino families meet their child care needs? |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
|
|
|
|
|
The Effects of Quality Information and Financial Assistance on Child Care Choices and Employment Outcomes of Low-Income Families in Minnesota This 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. It 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 groups of 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?; and (4) What factors influence child care stability, reliability, and employment outcomes? Findings are expected 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. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
|
|
|
|
|
The Impact of Childhood Behavior Problems on Child Care and Employment Decision-Making: A Nationally Representative Panel Study The goal of this study is to examine associations between childhood behavior problems and the stability of child care and employment among working families. Particular attention is paid to autism and childhood behavior problems that may go undiagnosed. The study follows a nationally representative sample of 1500 parents and children ages birth-13, selected from Gallup panel data which includes an oversample of low-income respondents, and a comparison group of parents of children with autism, also selected from Gallup panel data. Both descriptive and multivariate analyses are conducted, and an instrumental variable approach is applied to address possible endogeneity. The expected benefits of this project are to document the influence of behavior problems on child care and employment at the national level, to inform Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) eligibility criteria for children ages birth-13 with undiagnosed developmental and/or behavior problems, and to build research capacity by linking child care research to autism research and develop two nationally representative longitudinal public domain datasets. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
|
|
|
|
|
Impact of Pre-K Expansion on Child Care for Low-Income Families This study is designed to address questions about the association between prekindergarten (preK) expansion and the supply and quality of child care for low-income families. We are conducting a longitudinal investigation to identify changes in the supply of child care and in the quality of care for low-income working families across different types of providers and for different ages of children. Research questions include: (1) How do changes in state preK funding relate to the overall supply of child care and in the supply of child care for the children of low-income families? How does this change over time differ based on whether the county predominantly delivers preK through public schools or through child care and Head Start providers?; (2) How does the configuration of the child care market change over time as preK programs expand?; and (3) How is expansion of preK programs related to the quality of child care? How do expanded preK programs affect the quality of child care available to low-income families? |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
|
|
|
|
|
The Massachusetts Child Care Study: Child Care Subsidies, Child Care needs and Utilization, and Choice of Care Among Low-Income Working Families This study examined the child care needs of low-income working families and the impact of child care subsidies. The research questions include: (1) What types of care do families receiving subsidies choose?; (2) What is the quality of the care in programs serving low-income families?; and (3) How well does the child care accessed by low income families meet their needs and impact families' well-being? |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
|
|
|
|
|
New Americans: The Child Care Choices of Parents of English Language Learners (ELL) Despite the significant benefits quality ECE programs offer to immigrant and refugee children, their rates of enrollment are significantly lower than for comparable children of U.S.-born parents (Matthews & Ewen,2006; Capps, et al, 2005; Brandon, 2002). The early care and education (ECE) system faces challenges in serving the youngest members of these new American families, particularly those who are English Language Learners (ELL). It is important for policymakers and child care providers to better understand the parents' work and child care needs, their cultural beliefs about child rearing and their perceptions about what their children need to get ready for school. ECE providers are keenly aware that the cultural sensitivity with which they care for the children who do enroll in their programs, as well as the degree to which they can successfully engage parents, has a bearing not only on the quality of care they provide but also on the likelihood that other immigrant parents will, through word of mouth, seek enrollment for their own children. Aided by a diverse Advisory Committee, this in-depth, exploratory study was conducted in two cities which reflect the varied experience with immigration across the country: Denver, Colorado, where we focused on Mexican immigrants and Portland, Maine, where we focused on three of the many refugee populations which have settled there: Cambodian, Somali and Sudanese children and families. Findings include an emphasis on exploring the concerns parents have about formal child care, differences in child rearing beliefs that influence decision making and implications for providers when classrooms have multiple cultures and languages spoken among the children with no one culture or language predominating. Research questions include: (1) What factors influence the child care choices of low income immigrant and refugee families of English Language Learners?; (2) How do immigrant and refugee parents' beliefs about child rearing, early education, and quality of care affect their decision to enroll their child and their choice among different care arrangements?; (3) How do broader cultural views (of the immigrant and refugee populations studied and western views) affect parental choice of care and satisfaction with care?; (4) To what extent do the practices of ECE providers and other service providers influence access to and choice of care?; (5) What are the perspectives of child care and other service providers about immigrants' choice of, access to and satisfaction with child care?; and (6) What are the effects of state and local policies on parental choice of, access to and satisfaction with care? |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
|
|
|
|
|
Patterns of Child Care Subsidy Use in New York City: Care Arrangements, Parental Preferences, and Subsidy Administration Policies The goal of this project is to examine associations among parental preferences for child care, parents' perceptions of care quality, subsidy policies, and the care arrangements that low-income working families in New York City use for their young children. The project relies on two data sources: (1) New York City administrative data on the entire population of subsidy recipients with children age 6 and younger to describe families' child care arrangements; and (2) a phone survey with a random sample of 2,250 families drawn from the administrative data file. The survey asks parents about their reasons for selecting each of their care arrangements, their level of satisfaction with the care they use, the dimensions of care that they perceive as most important, their work/family balance, and their experiences with the subsidy administration system. Using these data, the project attends to four sets of research questions: (1) What are the dynamics of subsidy use? What is the duration of subsidy use?; (2) Is there a mismatch between parents' stated preferences for child care, and the care that they actually use? What are the policy barriers that potentially prevent families from accessing the care that they prefer? Are there specific barriers faced by families who receive vouchers (as opposed to those who receive care in a contracted setting) that affect their use of formal care?; (3) Are parental preferences for child care differentially associated with the use of formal versus informal care? How are parental perceptions of child care quality and parental work characteristics associated with the use of formal or informal care?; and (4) Does the continuity of care depend on whether the care is informal or formal? |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
|
|
Select Citation
|
