Changes in child care arrangements in Minnesota
A study of patterns and changes in the child care arrangements of low income families in Minnesota, based on data from four waves of surveys conducted every five to six months with a cohort of 323 low income families with children under the age of 6
Reports & Papers
Early Care and Education Choices, Quality and Continuity for Low-Income Families: A Maryland-Minnesota Research Partnership
Maryland and Minnesota are two states that have been leading innovations across early care and education policy and simultaneously investing in research and data infrastructure to ensure that their strategies are informed by evaluation and new evidence in the field. This project creates a Maryland-Minnesota Child Care Research Partnership, bringing together two states committed to examining critical issues in early care and education and using research findings to inform policy with an interdisciplinary team of researchers experienced in conducting studies on subsidy policy, quality improvement strategies, family experiences and child outcomes. Three cross-state sub-studies serve as the foundation for the work of the Partnership: (1) How families seek and process information about early care and education; (2) How families value and weigh different features of the quality of arrangements; and (3) Factors affecting and antecedents of child care stability/child care subsidy continuity. The studies were developed to build on existing research projects in both Maryland and Minnesota to maximize the investments made in development and data collection and to facilitate cross-state application of the learning. The research questions included: (1) How do families describe the process of making decisions about early care and education and what are the milestones in this process; (2) What family and community characteristics predict subsidy use and the type and quality of early care and education arrangements chosen; (3) What are parents' perceptions of family-sensitive caregiving, developmentally appropriate instructional practices, and practices that support children's social and emotional development, and to what extent are aspects of quality important to parents; (4) Which provider demographic characteristics distinguish those with a greater orientation towards family-sensitive caregiving, developmentally appropriate instructional practices, and practices that support children's social and emotional development; (5) What child, family, and community factors are associated with frequent changes in arrangements and what factors are associated with stability or infrequent changes; and (6) While participating in the subsidy program, how long do subsidized arrangements last and how many subsidized arrangements do children have while on subsidy
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
Employment and earnings of the working poor in rural and urban labor markets
An analysis of labor market conditions in Oregon and their role in employment outcomes for economically disadvantaged families
Reports & Papers
Exploring Parent Decision-Making: Subsidies, Employment, and Child Care
Decisions that parents make with regard to nonparental child care for their children are tied to other household decisions. Intuitively, we would expect the choice of maternal employment and the setting of care for young children during the mother's employment hours to be a simultaneous decision. While we refer to these decisions as "choices", it is important to recognize that these occur with the context of (often severe) resource constraints and limited information, and are influenced by social and group norms and expectations. Not all of these constraints and influences are observable by researchers, making the detangling of these choices challenging in quantitative analysis. This project uses recent, nationally-representative, longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) and innovative statistical methods to examine parents' child care and employment decisions in the context of subsidy receipt. Research questions include: (1) What factors affect parents' decisions about employment, use of non-parental child care and type of child care used?; and (2) what is the role of child care subsidies in these decisions?
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
Fluctuation in Child Care Cost Burden: The Effect of Increasing Subsidy Policy Generosity on Parent Decision Making
This study uses secondary analysis of administrative data to examine the amount of variability in the parent share of child care cost experienced by participants in the subsidy program and the effect of cost burden variation on decisions related to continuation in the program and type of care selected. Substantial changes in Oregon child care subsidy policy in October 2007 provided the impetus for this study. Oregon went from having the least to having nearly the most generous subsidy policies in the country and this change provided an opportunity to examine how subsidy policy impacts families. Research questions include: (1) How predictable is the child care cost burden of a parent using a child care subsidy, as indicated by changes in copay, hours authorized, hours billed, and payments made to providers?; (2) To what extent did the 2007 policy change affect the amount of financial assistance and the predictability of parent cost burden associated with the subsidy program?; and (3) To what extent are the October 2007 policy changes associated with changes in type of care and stability of subsidy use?
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
Minnesota Child Care Choices: Continuity of care and participation in the Child Care Assistance Program
A study of the characteristics, duration of continuous participation, and continuity of child care arrangements of participants in the child care subsidy program in Minnesota, based on child care subsidy voucher administrative data for 44,582 children from January 2009 through June 2010
Reports & Papers
Minnesota Child Care Choices: Study and sample description
An overview of a study, and its sample, that examines the child care decision-making processes of low-income families in Minnesota
Fact Sheets & Briefs
Why do they leave?: Child care subsidy use in Oregon
A summary of findings from an investigation into why Oregon parents leave the child care subsidy system, with a comparison of those findings to studies examining why eligible parents did not take up subsidies
Fact Sheets & Briefs
