Working Meeting on Child Care Decision-Making
A summary of the proceedings of a meeting hosted by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, in Washington, DC on December 4-5, 2008, for the purpose of providing an opportunity for discussion aimed at deepening understanding of parental decision-making about care and education for young children
Meeting Summary
Conceptual frameworks for child care decision-making
An examination of three frameworks for understanding parental child care decisionmaking and an elaboration and development of a fourth framework that integrates elements of the three
Other
Choice characteristics and parents' child care decisions
A review of data from the 1990 National Child Care Survey examining the relationship between parents' personal characteristics and child care arrangement choices
Reports & Papers
Minnesota Child Care Choices: Child care decision-making and perceptions of quality
Findings from a longitudinal study of the child care decision-making processes of low-income families in Minnesota that examine parents' child care decision-making processes, perceptions of quality, and child care arrangements at baseline, based on a survey of 323 low-income parents with at least one child age 6 or under who have applied for child care assistance or welfare and live in one of seven participating counties
Fact Sheets & Briefs
Falling Through the Cracks: Child Care Decision-Making Among the Working Poor
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
Child care decision-making: a Key Topic Resource List
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
Profiles of choice: Parents’ patterns of priority in child care decision-making
An analysis of data collected from thousands of parents rating the importance of seven factors in the selection of child care arrangements: location, cost, reliability, learning activities, spending time with other children, operation hours, and number of other children
Reports & Papers
Family labor participation and child care decisions: The role of grannies
A study of child care provided by grandmothers in 10 European countries and its relationship to labor force participation of grandmothers and their children, based on an analysis of data from 1,689 grandmothers between 50 and 65 years old with grandchildren under age 13 from the longitudinal, cross-national Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)
Reports & Papers
Understanding parents' child care decision-making: A foundation for child care policy making
An elaboration of a chart of the factors that influence the parental child care decisionmaking process
Fact Sheets & Briefs
Nonstandard work schedules and child care decisions: Evidence from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care
A study of the relationship between parents' work schedules and child care arrangements, using longitudinal data collected by the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network
Reports & Papers
Who should help me raise my child?: A cultural approach to understanding nonmaternal child care decisions
An inquiry into the cultural factors affecting child care arrangement decisions by parents and its reflection in public policy, based on a comparison of child care decisions of mothers in the United States and among the Nso of Cameroon
Other
The Constraints of Choice: The Role of Race/Ethnicity, Class, and Community Context in Child Care Decisions
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
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
How employment constraints affect low-income working parents' child care decisions
Findings from a study of low income parents' child care decisionmaking that examines parents' employment contexts and the role of employment in their child care choices, based on in-depth qualitative interviews with parents in 86 families in Providence, Rhode Island, and Seattle-White Center, Washington
Fact Sheets & Briefs
Child Care Decision-making, Subsidy Use, and the Development of Economic Self-sufficiency among Immigrant Parents of Young Children
Children of immigrants are the fastest growing segment of children in the U.S. with one quarter of children under age 18 having at least one foreign born parent (Hernandez, 2009). In addition, nearly 60%; of children of immigrants were enrolled in some form of ECCE in the year before Kindergarten (Magnuson, Lahaie, & Waldfogel, 2006). Still, we have limited understanding of immigrant families' experiences with the U.S. ECCE system. Consequently, the primary goal of this study was to provide insight into the experiences of low-income immigrant families as they navigated the early childhood care and education (ECCE) system. Specifically, African and Latino immigrants' child care decision-making experiences, their knowledge and use of child care subsidies, as well as families' strategies to achieve economic self-sufficiency were examined. The research questions were: (1) how do low-income immigrant mothers of preschool age children learn to navigate the U.S. ECCE system? Specifically, how do immigrant mothers select ECCE for their children and what factors shape this decision-making process; and (2) how do low-income immigrant families utilize ECCE, child care subsidies and other governmental supports to promote their economic self-sufficiency and support their parenting?
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
New Americans: Child care decision-making of refugee and immigrant parents of English language learners
Findings from two case studies of refugee and immigrant families' child care beliefs, experiences, and decisions, based on focus groups of Cambodian, Somali, and Sudanese refugee parents in Portland, Maine, and Mexican immigrant parents in Denver, Colorado, as well as interviews and surveys from early care providers and K-2 teachers in both locations
Reports & Papers
The effects of welfare policy on child care decisions: Evidence from ten experimental welfare-to-work programs
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 importance of child care services to women's decision making
A study on the influence of child care costs on maternal employment and child care decisions, using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), 1984-1985
Other
Making an informed decision on employment and child care
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
Decisions on child care: Do sex and sexual orientation matter?
An investigation into the role of caregiver’s gender and sexual orientation on parents’ preferences and decisions for child care arrangements, based on a sample of 72 undergraduate students at a large western university whose preferences were rated using a Likert scale
Reports & Papers
Comments on ''The importance of child care costs to women's decision making''
A critique on mothers’ decision making of child care costs
Other
Child care choice in urban Thailand: Qualitative and quantitative evidence of the decision-making process
A qualitative and quantitative analysis of child care decision making in Bangkok, Thailand
Reports & Papers
Parental decision making about child care
A study of the relative influence of various features of child care arrangements on maternal choice of arrangements, and a study of the association between these features and the characteristics of mothers, based on the questionnaire responses of 355 mothers
Reports & Papers
Child care resource and referral programs and parents' search for quality child care
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
Urban Zimbabwean mothers' choices and perceptions of care for young children
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
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
