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Chapter One: Background to the Neighborhood Substudy of Family Child Care
Family child care is distinguished from center-based care both in terms of the numbers of children typically cared for and their relationship to the provider: Family child care typically involves small numbers of children, and children in family child care homes are often related to the provider, both because providers sometimes care for the children of relatives and because the provider’s own children may be present in the home. Family child care is also characterized by the fact that most providers operate alone, without paid helpers. At the same time, adult members of the provider’s own family may be present or even help out, and other members of the community may be present. All of these factors set family child care apart from most center-based care environments.
A decision was made early in the study to focus on a wide spectrum of family child care, from more formal care to care provided for a single child in a grandparent’s home. Our hope was that the study would include a substantial amount of what is often called “informal” or “kith and kin” care. The terms, which are used interchangeably, include care provided by grandmothers, aunts and other relatives of a child, as well as care by neighbors, friends and other unrelated adults. These forms of care may or may not be legally exempt from licensing requirements, depending on the number of children in the home, their relationship to the caregiver, and the state in which the caregiver lives. In addition, if the caregiver receives a subsidy for the child’s care, even those who are exempt from licensing requirements may be subject to some form of regulation such as, for example, a criminal records check.
A substantial number of young children in low-income families are cared for in someone else’s home while their mother works. The Community Survey conducted in 2000 as part of the National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families found that just over half of children below the age of 13 in low-income families who were in non-parental care while their mothers worked were cared for in a relative’s home (31%) or in a family child care home (20%).
Similarly, the 1995 Survey of Income and Program Participation found that between 33 percent and 34 percent of low-income children of working mothers were cared for in a relative’s home, and between 19 percent and 20 percent were in family child care (Casper, 2000). The proportion of families that use relative care has remained quite stable over the last ten years while the use of family child care by a non-relative has declined somewhat as center-based programs have become more available, especially for three- and four-year old children.
We have only limited understanding of these kinds of care and why families use them. Some research suggests that the higher cost and lower availability of center care in low-income communities make family child care or “kith and kin” care the most likely options for poor families (Phillips, 1995; Galinsky et al., 1994; Casper, 1997; Emlen et al., 1999; Capizzano et al., 2000).
Mothers’ work schedules almost certainly influence their choice of child care. Many low-income parents have entry-level jobs that require them to work non-standard hours or hours that vary day to day or week to week. Little formal child care is available at these times. A study of regulated child care supply in Illinois, for example, showed that less than one percent of the 148 slots per thousand children were in programs that offered evening hours (Collins and Li, 1997). As a result, mothers with off-hours work schedules are more likely than mothers who work day shifts to rely on family child care (Casper, 1997). One study found that close to 30 percent of employed welfare (AFDC) recipients who used child care needed care before 6:00 am, after 7:00 pm, or on weekends; another estimated that one-third of low-income working mothers work on weekends (Sonenstein and Wolf, 1991; Hofferth, 1995). Mothers who work part-time are more likely to rely on a relative for child care, especially for children under five (Caruso, 1992; Casper, 1997; Folk and Beller, 1993; Hofferth et al., 1991). Centers find it difficult to accept part-time children because they use up a slot that could be filled by a child who needs full-time care. To compensate for the monetary loss, centers charge more per hour for part-time care, and the fewer hours that are needed, the higher the premium (Coelen et al., 1979). The same strategy is used by licensed family day care providers.
Parental values play a role in the decision to use family child care. Many families prefer to rely on relative and other providers whom they personally know and trust (Galinsky et al., 1994; Hofferth et al., 1991; Zinsser, 1991). These choices reflect deeply-held beliefs about the importance of arrangements that resemble parental care and providers who share parents’ views about child rearing or are similar to them in other ways (Fuller et al., 1996; Galinsky et., 1994; Smith, 1991; Zinsser, 1991).
Informal providers in these studies have less formal education than other providers and, among informal care providers, relative providers have the least formal education (Butler et al., 1991; Fuller et al., 2000; Galinsky et al., 1994; Siegel and Lomas, 1991). Informal providers tend to have more experience caring for children and less training in child care (Butler et al., 1991; Fuller et al., 2000; Galinsky et al., 1994; Kontos et al., 1995; NICHD, 1996).
Almost no earlier research has recruited and studied low-income families and their linked providers and followed children over time. The In-Depth Study broke new ground in this respect, and in the size of the sample recruited and followed. The study examines many of the questions addressed above and, in addition, examines in more detail than prior research the daily experiences of children in relative and family child care.
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