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Introduction: The National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families
The National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families is a five-year research effort that will provide policy-makers with information on the effects of Federal, state and local policies and programs on child care at the community level, and the employment and child care decisions of low-income families.1 It will also provide insights into the characteristics and functioning of family child care, a type of care frequently used by low-income families, and the experiences of parents and their children with this form of care.2 Abt Associates Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University’s Joseph Mailman School of Public Health in New York City are conducting the study under contract to the Administration for Children & Families of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
The study was initiated in the wake of sweeping welfare reform legislation enacted in 1996. It examines how states and communities implement policies and programs to meet the child care needs of families moving from welfare to work, as well as those of other low-income parents; how policies change over time; and how these policies, as well as other factors, affect the type, amount, and cost of care in communities. In addition, the study is investigating the factors that shape the child care decisions of low-income families and the role that child care subsidies play in those decisions. Finally, the study is examining, in depth and over a period of 2½ years, a group of families that use various kinds of family child care and their child care providers, to develop a better understanding of the family child care environment and the extent to which the care provided in that environment supports parents’ work-related needs and meets children’s needs for a safe, healthy and nurturing environment.
To address these objectives, study staff gathered information from 17 states about the administration of child care and welfare policies and programs, and about resource allocations. Within the 17 states, the study gathered information from 25 communities about the implementation of state and local policies and the influence of those policies and practices on the local child care market and on low-income families. Information on states was collected three times: in 1999, 2001 and in 2002, and on communities four times over the same period to allow us to investigate change over time in policies and practices.
From individual families in these communities, we gathered information on how state and local policies and programs, as well as other factors, influence parents’ decisions about child care, the stability and continuity of child care, the child care choices they make, and how these choices affect their ability to find and retain a job or participate in educational or training programs. A one-time survey of low-income parents in 25 communities provided this information.
In addition, we collected more detailed information on low-income families that use family child care, their providers and the experience of children in family child care. This in-depth examination of family child care was conducted in five of the 25 study sites and involved multiple data collection efforts over a 2½ year period, to allow us to track changes in parental employment, subsidy status and the child care arrangements over time of one child in the family, chosen at random once the family met our criteria for eligibility to participate in the study. This portion of the study is the focus of this report.
Contents of this Report
This report presents findings from the first wave of data collection for the In-Depth Study of Family Child Care, a component of the National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families. Chapter One describes the policy context for the In-Depth Study. Chapter Two provides an overview of the study, including the research questions addressed by the study, its design, data collection methods and schedule. Chapter Three describes the parent and provider samples for this interim report. The four chapters that follow focus on parents and their employment and child care experience. Chapters Four and Five describe the employment schedules and child care arrangements of the families in the study, including parental considerations in choosing a provider. Chapter Six examines flexibility and stress in the workplace and the child care arrangement. Chapter Seven describes the relationship between parents and providers. The remaining chapters focus on the family child care provider and her home as a child care environment. Chapter Eight profiles the caregivers and the family child care homes. Chapter Nine describes the characteristics of the care environment. Chapter Ten examines the nature of caregivers’ interactions with children. Chapter Eleven describes children’s experiences in the family child care environment, in terms of their activities and the level and quality of supervision. Chapter Twelve, deals more specifically and in depth with the experience of the focus child, the child whose use of family child care brought his or her family into the study. The report concludes with a discussion of key findings.
Volume 2 contains copies of the measures used for the study.
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