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
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, 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
Child care choices of Hispanic families: Why aren't families using center care?
An examination of the relationship between families? access to child care by relatives, access to child care centers, and the role of language barriers in child care decisions by Hispanic families, based on data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS) on children aged birth through 5 and not enrolled in kindergarten
Reports & Papers
Child care professional development provider surveys
A study of the characteristics of Idaho child care workers and facilities, including worker education, training, experience, income, and career decisions, and facility type, employment, and enrollment of children with disabilities or medical conditions, based on surveys from 656 workers
Reports & Papers
State of Care Index
A study of decision-making related to child and senior caregiving, including the roles of employer benefits and parent gender, responses to child care crises, altering primary child care arrangements, and balancing work and caregiving, based on survey responses from 917 parents and care advocates
Reports & Papers
Child Care Policy Research Consortium: 2010 Annual Meeting Overview
A summary of the proceedings of the annual meeting of the Child Care Policy Research Consortium, hosted by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, in Washington, DC on October 21-22, 2010
Meeting Summary
Making employment work for low wage families: Oregon's employment-related child care subsidy program
A summary of a study of Oregon child care subsidy recipients' work and subsidy experiences and child care costs, based on interviews with 24 subsidy recipients
Fact Sheets & Briefs
The Mother's Voices Project: Final report
Findings from an exploration of mothers' experiences of the social and economic implications of child care arrangements in New Brunswick, Canada
Reports & Papers
Where are the kids?: Key facts on the child care arrangements of school-age children
An examination of the before and after school, summer, and federally-funded child care arrangements of school-age children
Fact Sheets & Briefs
African American, White and Hispanic child care preferences: A factorial survey analysis of welfare leavers by race and ethnicity
An examination of race and ethnicity differences in child care preferences and definitions of child care quality from a survey of 97 low income adults whose TANF benefits have been terminated in Pennsylvania
Reports & Papers
Resource use of rural low-income families caring for children with disabilities
An examination of rural low-income families resource use to find and maintain employment and child care from data from 26 families caring for children with disabilities from the Rural Families Speak project, a 14-state longitudinal study to assess changes in well being and functioning of low-income rural families in the context of welfare reform
Reports & Papers
Child care instability: Definitions, context, and policy implications
An examination of child care instability, including its definition and characteristics, causes, relationship to child care subsidies, and policy implications
Other
Factors predicting early childhood education and care use by immigrant families
An examination of differences in the relationship between child and family characteristics and the use of relative care, nonrelative care, and center based care for children of foreign born mothers versus children of native-born mothers, based on data from the National Household Education Survey, 2005
Reports & Papers
Child care and community development
A presentation of policy recommendations for local planners and policymakers to develop a system of early childhood education and care programs to build family-friendly communities
Fact Sheets & Briefs
Who should care for our kids?: The effects of infant child care on early child development
An examination that accounts for selection into care type of the relationship between various types of child care during the first year of a child's life and the child's language and social development measured at age 3 from Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study data
Reports & Papers
The Child and Adult Care Food Program: Who is served and what are their nutritional outcomes?
An inquiry into whether the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) reaches its targeted population, and an examination of the relationship between the food intake, weight, and food security of CACFP participants, based on data on more than 10,000 children who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B)
Reports & Papers
Assessing policy effects on enrollment in early childhood education and care
A study of the relationship between public spending for early childhood education and care and low-income children's enrollment in various types of early childhood education and care settings, based on secondary analyses of nationally representative household data collected between 1991 and 2005
Reports & Papers
The impact of child care subsidies on child well-being: Evidence from geographic variation in the distance to social service agencies
A study of the short- and long-term impact of child care subsidy receipt in the year before kindergarten entry on children’s cognitive, behavioral, and psychomotor outcomes, based on data from the Kindergarten cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K)
Reports & Papers
The impact of child care subsidies on child well-being: Evidence from geographic variation in the distance to social service agencies
A study of the short- and long-term impact of child care subsidy receipt in the year before kindergarten entry on children’s cognitive, behavioral, and psychomotor outcomes, based on data from the Kindergarten cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K)
Reports & Papers
Effects of mothers' employment on toddlers' cognitive development: A study conducted in Karachi, Pakistan
A study of the relationships between toddlers' cognitive development and maternal employment, mothers' education, socioeconomic status and child care arrangements, based on a convenience sample of 100 children between 24 and 36 months of age and their mothers in Karachi, Pakistan
Reports & Papers
Build the future: Creating a roadmap for success: The need for a quality rating and improvement system in New Jersey
A discussion of early care and education quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) and recommendations for the development and adoption of a QRIS for New Jersey
Other
NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development: Phase II, 1996-1999 [United States]
The overall purpose of this study was to examine the influence of variations in early childcare histories on the psychological development of infants and toddlers from a variety of family backgrounds. This general objective was addressed through a prospective, longitudinal study of the experiences of 1,364 children and their families, which took into account the complex interactions among child characteristics and those of the human and physical environments in which the children were reared.
Data Sets
NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development: Phase III, 2000-2004 [United States]
The overall purpose of this study was to examine the influence of variations in early childcare histories on the psychological development of infants and toddlers from a variety of family backgrounds. This general objective was addressed through a prospective, longitudinal study of the experiences of 1,364 children and their families, which took into account the complex interactions among child characteristics and those of the human and physical environments in which the children were reared.
Data Sets
NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development: Phase I, 1991-1995 [United States]
The overall purpose of this study was to examine the influence of variations in early childcare histories on the psychological development of infants and toddlers from a variety of family backgrounds. This general objective was addressed through a prospective, longitudinal study of the experiences of 1,364 children and their families, which took into account the complex interactions among child characteristics and those of the human and physical environments in which the children were reared.
Data Sets
