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Chapter Five: Child Care Arrangements

All of the families recruited for the study were using some form of family child care when the study began. This chapter examines how and why parents chose their child care provider, as well as what they perceived their options to be. The chapter also examines the cost of care, with and without subsidies and families’ experience with subsidies.

All parents, and especially low-income parents, face constraints on their choice of child care. The kind of care they would like may not be available in their neighborhood, or may cost more than they can pay. In addition, as we saw in an earlier chapter, parents’ work schedules make some types of child care inaccessible, because of the hours during which care is needed. Just over 16 percent of families considered a special need of the child, in most cases a chronic health condition or physical disability, in making their decision.

As we noted earlier in the report, more than one-third of the focus children were cared for by a relative in the relative’s home. More than half (57%) had one or more siblings in the same child care arrangement.

Most of the focus children (90%) were in a single full-time child care arrangement;11 7 percent had two concurrent arrangements and the remainder were in three or four arrangements.12 Since birth, more than one-third (34%) of the focus children had been in a single care arrangement, 26 percent had had two care arrangements, 25 percent had had three or four arrangements, and the remainder (15%) had had five or more arrangements.13 Almost half (46%) of Hispanic children had been in a single care arrangement since birth, compared with 38 percent of Black children and 17 percent of White children (Exhibit 5.1). Children cared for by relatives had a somewhat more stable child care history than those cared for by non-relatives. Almost half (45%) of the children in relative care had been in a single care arrangement since they were born, compared with 27 percent of children in non-relative care (Exhibit 5-2).

Exhibit 5-1:

CHILD CARE EXPERIENCE OF FOCUS CHILD

Number of Care Arrangements Since Birth by Ethnicity

	White/ Non-Hispanic %	Black/ Non-Hispanic %	Hispanic %	Other %	All Children %
Single care arrangement	17	38	46	28	34
Two care arrangements	30	28	20	15	26
Three or more care arrangements	53	34	34	56	40
Sample size	135	308	90	39	572

Source: Parent Interview

Exhibit 5-2:

CHILD CARE EXPERIENCE OF FOCUS CHILD

Number of Care Arrangements Since Birth by Use of Relative Care

	Relative Care %	Non-Relative Care %	All Children %
Single care arrangement	45	27	34
Two care arrangements	25	27	26
Three or more care arrangements	30	46	40
Sample size	212	360	572

Source: Parent Interview

Finding Child Care

Just over half (52%) of the parents considered other arrangements for their child before making their decision, visiting other providers or child care facilities or thinking about staying home to care for the child themselves. Almost one-third (31%) had no alternative to the arrangement they chose. However, lack of choice did not always translate into dissatisfaction with their arrangement; less than 10 percent of all the parents (who at this time were all using family child care)would have preferred a different arrangement. About half (49%) of those who would have preferred a different arrangement would have opted for an unrelated family child care provider; almost one-third would have liked center care for their child. The remainder would have preferred care by a grandparent or other relative (15%), or to stay home to care for the child themselves (5%).

Of the parents who felt they had other possible choices, 43 percent had a single alternative arrangement, 40 percent had two alternatives and the remainder had three or more alternatives to the arrangement they chose. Most frequently, the alternatives were other family child care homes or care by a relative, although 43 percent of parents said that center care was an option open to them.

Where Do Parents Get Their Information About Child Care?

The extent to which parents know about possible alternative care arrangements may be influenced by where they get their information about child care. Families that are receiving cash assistance may be offered help in finding care by the welfare agency or another community agency. Similarly, families that receive a child care subsidy can get help in finding care from the subsidy agency or a resource and referral agency. Of the two-thirds of families that used non-relative care, 30 percent learned about their provider from a public or private agency; the majority were referred by a friend, neighbor, family member or another child care provider (42%) or knew the provider already (24%).14 A handful of families found their provider through an ad in a newspaper or a bulletin board, or in the Yellow Pages. The overwhelming majority (92%) visited the provider to see where and how the child would be cared for before they made their decision.

On average, it took parents about a month to make the final arrangement. However, there was wide variation in the amount of time it took; for 41 percent of families it took less than a day to make the arrangement, while for a small number of families (less than 5%) it took more than six months (Exhibit 5-3).

Exhibit 5-3:

TIME TO ARRANGE CHILD CARE

Percentage of Parents by Age of Focus Child

	0 to 35 Months %	36 to 59 Months %	Over 59 Months %	All Parents %
Less than 1 day	40.2	36.5	44.3	40.7
1 – 7 days	7.4	9.4	7.7	8.1
1 – 4 weeks	25.4	33.2	34.7	27.4
1 – 6 months	23.8	15.5	18.7	19.3
6 – 12 months	2.1	2.2	2.6	2.3
A year or more	1.1	3.3	2.1	2.2
Sample size	193	185	247	618

Source: Parent Interview

Knowledge of the Child Care Market

How informed are parents’ choices of child care arrangements? As we demonstrated in the preceding section, the referral to their current provider came primarily from friends, relatives or neighbors, or as a consequence of their own acquaintance with the provider. We asked parents a series of questions about the availability of different types of care in their neighborhood for children of different ages.

Parents were asked about the child care options available in their neighborhood for parents with infants, toddlers and preschool–age children. Then they were asked what type of care parents in their neighborhood typically choose for children of different ages. Many parents found these questions difficult to answer, especially for children older or younger than their own child, so that for each question, a substantial number of parents responded “Don’t know”.

For children of all ages, few parents reported that care in a child’s own home by either a relative or an unrelated adult was an available option. This type of care was seen as hardest to find for school-age children; only 11 percent and 9 percent of parents believed that care in the child’s home by a non-relative or a relative was a possibility, compared with 15 percent and 18 percent who believed this type of care was available for toddlers or preschoolers. Indeed parents perceived that there was less availability of most types of care for school-age children compared with their availability for younger children. Care by relatives or care in a school-based after-school program were the most often cited options for school-age children, while center care was seen as the type of care most available for toddlers and preschoolers. Center care and family child care were seen as equally available for infants (Exhibits 5-4, 5-5 and 5-6).

Exhibit 5-4:

CHILD CARE OPTIONS IN NEIGHBORHOOD FOR PARENTS WITH INFANTS

Percentage of All Parents Who Identify Child Care Option as Available

	Yes %	No %	Don’t Know %
Center care	40.2	19.2	40.7
Care by a non-relative in person’s home	39.9	18.4	41.7
Care by relative in relative’s home	36.5	18.7	44.8
Care by a non-relative in child’s home	13.7	28.7	47.6
Care by relative in child’s home	17.0	35.2	47.8
Sample size = (n = 615 parents)

Source: Parent Interview

Exhibit 5-5:

CHILD CARE OPTIONS IN NEIGHBORHOOD FOR PARENTS OF TODDLERS OR PRESCHOOLERS

Percentage of All Parents Who Identify Child Care Option as Available

	Yes %	No %	Don’t Know %
Center care	58.2	10.3	31.5
Care by a non-relative in person’s home	46.9	18.6	34.5
Care by relative in the relative’s home	35.9	25.3	38.7
Care by a non-relative in child’s home	15.0	44.6	40.4
Care by relative in child’s home	18.3	40.5	41.2
Sample size (n = 615 parents)

Source: Parent Interview

Exhibit 5-6:

CHILD CARE OPTIONS IN NEIGHBORHOOD FOR PARENTS WITH SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN

Percentage of Parents Who Identify Child Care Option as Available

	Yes %	No %	Don’t Know %
School-based programs	38.4	23.9	37.6
Non-school-based programs	29.3	32.1	38.6
Center care	33.1	28.7	38.2
Care by a non-relative in person’s home	32.7	28.6	38.7
Care by relative in relative’s home	39.3	30.4	40.4
Care by a non-relative in child’s home	11.3	46.7	42.1
Care by relative in child’s home	8.8	49.5	41.7
Sample size (n = 615 parents)

Source: Parent Interview

When asked what type of care parents in their neighborhood normally choose for their children, parents’ responses differed depending on the child’s age. For infants, the two types of care that parents reported most frequently used were care by a relative in the relative’s home (26%) or family child care (22%). For toddlers and preschoolers, almost one-third (31%) reported center care as the “normally chosen” mode of care, while, for school-age children, parents reported them as scattered almost equally across four or five different types of care outside the home (Exhibit 5-7). Parents of infants were less likely to know about child care options than parents of older children.

Exhibit 5-7:

TYPE OF CHILD CARE CHOSEN BY PARENTS IN NEIGHBORHOOD

Percentage of Parents Who Identify Child Care Options Chosen by Age of Child

	Infants %	Toddler/ Preschoolers %	School-age %
School-based after-school programs	NA	NA	19
Non-school-based after-school programs	NA	NA	9
Center care	15	31	15
Care by a non-relative in that person’s home	22	20	14
Care by relative in the relative’s home	26	18	14
Care by a non-relative in the child’s home	2	2	4
Care by relative in the child’s home	6	6	4
Don’t Know	28	23	20
Sample size (n = 615 parents)

Source: Parent Interview

Reasons for Choosing Child Care Arrangements

Parents were asked the most important reason for the choice of their current child care provider, as well as any other reasons for the choice. Other studies have found that, regardless of the type of care chosen, safety considerations play a key role. However, parents who choose center care perceive safety in a structured, monitored environment; for parents who use informal care, safety is assured because the provider is someone they personally know and trust (Butler et al., 1991; Galinsky et al., 1994; Hofferth et al., 1991).

No single reason dominated parents’ choices, but safety was the prime consideration for almost one-quarter (24%) of the parents, and one of several factors for 60 percent of them. Almost equally important were practical considerations such as accessibility and hours that match the parent’s schedules (22%), and the parent’s relationship with and feelings about the child care provider (20%). Aspects of the care arrangement that might be related to school readiness were rarely given as the most important reasons for parents’ choice and less than 20 percent of parents mentioned these considerations at all (Exhibit 5-8). We expected that different considerations would apply for children of different ages, but this did not turn out to be the case. Across families with children of different ages and different ethnicities, reasons for choosing a care arrangement differed little if at all. For families that used relative care, the parent’s relationship with the provider was the dominant reason for parents’ choice. This finding echoes findings from earlier studies in which parents who use relative care stress the importance of family bonds and a trusting relationship (Galinsky et al., 1994; Hofferth et al., 1991; Zinsser, 1991).

Attitudes Toward and Beliefs about the Child Care Arrangement

Parents were asked to rate the relative importance to them of different aspects of the care arrangement. Not surprisingly, given their reasons for choosing the care arrangements, the safety and cleanliness of the home was of paramount importance to them. For almost all (96%) the parents, the provider’s experience in taking care of children was extremely or very important compared with 70 percent who felt that licensing was extremely or very important. How the caregiver disciplines children and her warmth towards the children were seen as more important than her teaching of cultural or religious values. Almost all (97%) felt that it was extremely or very important that the provider teach children to get along with other children. More than two-thirds (71%) of parents saw teaching things the child needs to know for school as extremely or very important, and just under two-thirds (61%) expressed concern about the amount of TV or videos that children are allowed to watch (Exhibit 5-9).

Parents were asked open-ended questions about what they saw as the advantages and disadvantages of a family child care arrangement. Over two-thirds of the parents (68%) perceived no disadvantages to family child care. Parents who were using relative care were more likely to give this response than parents who were using an unrelated family child care provider (77% vs. 63%). Eleven percent of the parents pointed out that the inability of the provider to arrange for a back-up care arrangement is a disadvantage; parents using a non-relative were more than twice as likely as those using a relative caregiver to cite this as a disadvantage (14% vs. 6%) (Exhibit 5-10).

Exhibit 5-8:

REASONS FOR CHOOSING PRIMARY CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT

Percentage of Responses by Reason

		Most Important Reason %	Any Mention %
Cost		18.1	41.1
	Cost	9.7	13.9
	Provider accepts subsidy	8.4	14.4
Parent Needs		21.7	61.0
	Availability of care	5.6	13.9
	Convenient hours	6.5	18.1
	Convenient location	9.2	31.6
	Provider provides transportation	0.5	0
	Provider will care for siblings	0.6	6.8
Safety of Home		23.5	60.2
	Provider is trustworthy	10.0	20.9
	Recommended by someone I trust	4.8	5.3
	Safety/health/cleanliness	8.4	32.2
Provider Qualities		14.8	63.4
	Attention/warmth towards children	7.2	30.9
	Child is comfortable	2.1	10.0
	Experience in caring for children	2.3	9.5
	Home-like atmosphere	2.9	12.9
	Provider is trained, professional	1.0	5.0
Child Development		2.3	13.5
	Children of different ages	0.0	2.8
	Prepares child for school	1.3	4.9
	Number of children	1.3	6.1
Relationship with Provider		20.0	43.5
	Prefer family member	14.1	11.7
	Provider has same values	2.1	9.1
	Provider like a family member	2.7	8.3
	Relationship to parents	1.1	5.7
	Same language/ethnicity	0.2	0.8
Sample size (n = 618 parents)

Source: Parent Interview

Exhibit 5-9:

IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT

Percentage of Parents at Different Levels of Rating

		Extremely Important %	Very Important %	Somewhat Important %	Not too Important %
Provider experience		meana = 4.2
	Provider licensed or registered by the state	36.4	33.3	13.5	16.8
	Provider experienced in caring for children	54.3	41.7	3.4	0.6
	Provider trained in caring for children	45.8	45.0	7.5	1.8
	Amount of provider experience in child care	35.9	48.4	12.4	3.3
Provider values		mean = 4.2
	Teaches cultural/religious values	16.8	25.2	26.2	31.8
	Style of discipline	63.8	31.0	4.6	0.8
	Provider shares parent’s values	38.3	46.4	12.5	2.8
	Attention children receive from provider	54.6	43.9	1.5	0
	Provider warmth toward children	54.1	43.1	2.8	0
Provider relationship to parent and child		mean = 4.3
	Provider’s openness to parents dropping in	62.1	30.6	5.2	2.1
	Provider communication with parents	60.6	36.5	2.1	0.8
	Close relationship of provider with family	29.6	29.7	24.8	15.9
	Care that is day in and day out	58.0	35.4	6.2	0.5
Safety and cleanliness of home		mean = 4.6
	Cleanliness	63.2	34.5	2.1	0.2
	Attention to nutrition	51.9	43.1	4.4	0.7
	Attention to safety	79.9	19.8	0.3	0
Other children in care		mean = 3.3
	Number of children	20.4	35.5	30.9	13.2
	Different aged children	10.9	27.5	39.1	22.5
	Children from different ethnic groups	15.2	22.8	32.8	29.2
Activities in home		mean = 3.8
	Children taught to get along with each children	45.9	51.4	1.9	0.8
	Children taught things needed for school	32.6	38.5	24.8	4.1
	Children taught about their community	12.5	28.2	42.1	17.2
	Children taught about nature	13.5	26.8	45.6	14.1
	Amount of TV/videos children can watch	22.2	38.4	28.3	11.1
	Opportunities for active play	31.9	49.6	16.8	1.8
	Provider has organized activities	19.2	52.2	23.9	4.7
Sample size (n = 618 parents)

Source: Parent Interview a Mean score refers to average score across items (1 to 4 where 1 = Not too important).

Exhibit 5-10

DISADVANTAGES OF FAMILY CHILD CARE

Percentage of Parents by Use of Relative Care

Disadvantages	Relative Care %	Non-Relative Care %	All Parents %
No disadvantages	77.4	63.4	68.1
No back up if provider is sick	5.9	14.4	11.3
Provider doesn't teach child	2.3	5.9	4.6
Too few children	5.0	3.1	3.8
Not enough toys or equipment	1.4	4.9	3.6
Provider is alone, nobody sees what she is doing	1.4	3.9	2.9
Not enough structure	3.2	2.1	2.5
Hours not flexible enough	0.9	2.8	2.1
Provider does chores during care	0.9	2.3	1.8
Too much TV	0.9	2.1	1.6
Problems mixing personal and business	1.8	1.6	1.6
Provider tells parent how to raise children	2.3	0.8	1.3
Provider has too many visitors	0.0	0.8	0.5
Provider's children have too many playmates over	0.5	0.3	0.3
Sample size	221	391	612

Source: Parent Interview

Almost half of the parents (48%) felt that the individual attention children receive in family child care was an advantage, although, interestingly, this was more frequently mentioned by families using an unrelated provider than by families using a relative (53% vs. 39%). The home environment and the flexibility and appropriateness of the hours that care can be provided were the next most frequently mentioned advantages of this type of care. A small percentage (9%) of parents saw no advantages and would prefer center care (Exhibit 5-11). This is a smaller percentage than has been found in some earlier research (Hofferth et al., 1995 in Phillips and Budgman, 1995).

Paying for Child Care

Although the majority of families in this sample were receiving a child care subsidy, only 22 percent paid nothing for their child care. Nine percent of parents who did not receive subsidies paid nothing for their child care compared with 19 percent of subsidy recipients. We asked mothers to tell us their out-of-pocket costs for child care for the month prior to the interview and the number of children paid for. The average monthly payment for child care was $121.17; the average per child payment was $81.03. Parents who were receiving subsidies paid, on average, less than half of the amount paid by those who were not receiving subsidies (Exhibit 5-12).

Exhibit 5-11:

ADVANTAGES OF FAMILY CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENT

Percentage of Parents by Use of Relative Care

	Relative Care %	Non-Relative Care %	All Parents %
More individual attention	39.4	53.2	48.2
Like a home	27.6	33.8	31.5
Flexibility of hours	31.8	25.3	27.6
Hours of care match parent’s schedule	18.6	27.1	24.0
Cost	20.4	23.8	22.6
Care is close to home/work	14.9	22.8	19.9
Child can be with siblings	19.9	19.4	19.6
Provider shares my values	14.5	19.7	17.8
Provider like/is family member	16.3	17.4	17.0
Provider helps parent and child	19.5	8.7	12.6
Better safety/health	16.7	6.1	10.0
Know or trust provider	14.9	3.8	7.8
Home has children with different ages	3.2	8.2	6.4
Cares for infants	2.7	5.4	4.4
Good learning experiences	1.4	4.6	3.4
Consistency of caregiver	1.4	3.3	2.6
General flexibility	3.6	0.8	1.8
No advantages, would prefer center	5.4	11.0	9.0
Sample size	221	391	612

Source: Parent Interview

Exhibit 5-12:

PAYMENT FOR CHILD CARE

Monthly Payment for Child Care by Subsidy Status

	No Subsidy Mean	Receives Subsidy Mean	All Families Mean
Out-of-pocket monthly payment for all children	$226.50	$93.33	$121.17
Out-of-pocket per-child payment	$168.33	$57.65	$81.00
Sample size	131	478	609

Source: Parent Interview

For 80 percent of the parents who were receiving subsidies, the monthly payment represented the required copayment; 10 percent had no copayment.15 For the 9 percent whose monthly payment was not the same as the required copayment, about half paid more than the copayment and half paid less. While states require a copayment of most or all of the families that receive subsidies, they usually do not monitor the payment and act only if the provider lodges a complaint. In many states, providers may legally charge more than the subsidy reimbursement rates but are responsible for collecting the additional amount.

Experience with Subsidies

As we noted earlier in the report, 78 percent of the families in this sample were receiving a child care subsidy at the time they were recruited. Of the remaining 22 percent, more than one-third had applied for a subsidy in the past and half of these had received a subsidy. The main reason given for loss of subsidy was that the child who was receiving the subsidy became ineligible16 (at this point, we are talking about a handful of families [n=27] in this group). For all but 6 percent of families who received subsidies, their child care arrangement did not change when they received a subsidy and, for the small group who had a subsidy and then lost it, child care arrangements did not change for most when the subsidy ended.

The most common source of information about subsidies was a friend or relative (36%) or the welfare agency (35%). Another 13 percent heard about subsidies from a child care resource and referral agency. Child care centers are often a source of information about subsidies; however, for parents in this sample, only 10 percent heard about subsidies from their family child care provider. Least often mentioned sources of information were employers (3%) and child care agency staff (4%).

Summary of Findings Child care arrangements had been stable for the majority of the focus children in the study; more than half had had two or fewer different arrangements since birth. Almost half of the children cared for by relatives had been in a single care arrangement since birth. Two-thirds of parents felt they had alternatives to the child care arrangement they chose; less than 10 percent would have preferred a different arrangement. It took parents about a month on average to make the child care arrangement, most often on the basis of information or advice from a friend, neighbor or relative. Parents seemed to have an accurate assessment of the availability of child care in their community, perceiving options for school-age children as scarce and center-based programs as more available for toddlers and preschoolers. Safety, practical considerations such as hours that match work schedules, and the parent’s positive relationship with the provider were the major reasons given for choosing the care arrangement. Subsidies made child care considerably more affordable for families; those who were receiving subsidies paid, on average, less than half of the amount paid by families who bore the whole cost of care themselves. Contrary to what we might have anticipated, for the most part, parents did not change their child care arrangements when they began receiving subsidies or when they lost the subsidy.

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