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Chapter Three: Characteristics of Low-Income Families that Use Non-Parental Care
This chapter, and the chapters that follow it, deal with the subset of low-income families that use non-parental care for at least one child under the age of 13 while the child’s mother works or is in school. In this chapter we describe these families in terms of their family structure, ethnicity, income, mother’s employment, and spouse’s or partner’s employment. We note that the joint work schedules of the mother and her spouse or partner have implications for the types of child care that can be used.
Analyses are based on 2,264 families in 25 communities, weighted to represent the population of low-income families nationally that live in communities with a child poverty rate of at least 13.8 percent and use non-parental child care. References to “all families” in this chapter refer to this population.
Summary of Findings
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A majority (57%) of the low-income mothers that used non-parental child care lived with a spouse, partner or other adult. Families were small, with two-thirds containing one or two children.
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Over half of low-income families that used non-parental child care were either Black or Hispanic.
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Half of the families had annual incomes below the Federal Poverty Level, and 10 percent had incomes between 185 percent and 200 percent of the FPL.
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More than 70 percent of employed mothers worked irregular or non-standard hours. Non-standard hours were even more common among partners and spouses.
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One-quarter of the families used center-based child care or an afterschool program. Single mothers who were working regular hours were most likely to use a center-based child care program (38%), while mothers who were in school or job training were less likely to do so regardless of whether they were single heads of household (16%) or one of two parents in the home (22%).
Demographic Characteristics
Household composition: Thirty-nine percent of low-income families that used non-parental care were headed by a couple consisting of the children’s mother and her spouse or partner (not necessarily the children’s father) with no other adults present (Exhibit 3.1). An additional 18 percent, however, included the mother’s parents, siblings, or other related or unrelated adults. Hence, a solid majority (three-fifths) of families contained more than one adult.15
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These families were typically small, with about a third containing only one child under age 18 and another third containing two children (Exhibit 3.2). Only 14 percent contained four or more children.16
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Age of youngest child: Infants were present in 14 percent of families (Exhibit 3.3). Almost a quarter (24 percent) contained a toddler, and, in 21 percent of families, a preschooler was the youngest child. Slightly more than 40 percent of the families contained only school-age children.
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Ethnicity: While White, non-Hispanic families were the single largest group (36%) of low-income families that used non-parental care for their children, together Black and Hispanic families constituted the majority of non-parental child care users, in proportions much larger than their representation in the general population (Exhibit 3.4).17 18
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Immigrant status: In 15 percent of households, the child’s mother was born outside the United States (Exhibit 3.5). Recent immigrants (within the past 5 years) comprised 1 percent of respondents.19
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Household Income and Parental Employment
To participate in the survey, families had to have annual incomes below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). Almost half (49 percent) had incomes below the FPL, and 10 percent had incomes between 185 percent and 200 percent of the FPL (Exhibit 3.6). At the time of the interview, 20 percent were receiving food stamps, and 11 percent had received some TANF payments in the prior year. Sixty percent of families reported that they claimed earned income tax credits in the previous year.
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Mother’s Employment, Earnings, and Job Benefits
Nearly all (96 percent) mothers had worked for pay at some time in the past; most mothers (77 percent) were employed at one job, 6 percent were employed at more than one job, and 17 percent were not working.20 Among those who were employed, mothers worked an average of 35 hours in the week preceding the interview, earning an average of $323.
Only 27 percent of employed mothers worked regular hours; the remaining 73 percent of mothers worked on an irregular schedule or non-standard hours. Specifically, with a good deal of overlap,
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39 percent worked different hours from one day to another;
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40 percent worked different hours from one week to another;
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14 percent worked at seasonal jobs; and
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56 percent worked evenings, nights, or weekends.
Each of these situations constrains the use of center-based child care. Center care is rarely available evenings, nights, or weekends, or for irregular and changing hours. In particular centers find it economically disadvantageous to provide care for children part-day or on a changing schedule, since they are licensed for a specific number of full-time slots and would find it difficult to match two part-time arrangements that together made one-full-time slot.
About half of all mothers received medical insurance that covered adults in their household through their employer (52 percent). Nearly as many mothers (47 percent) received medical coverage for their children. Smaller proportions had dental insurance: 43 percent for adults, 38 percent for children. Sick time was available as a job benefit for 44 percent of mothers, paid holidays or vacation for 62 percent of mothers, life insurance for 39 percent, and retirement benefits for 42 percent. In addition, 13 percent had access to child care information through their employer, while 5 percent had on-site day care and 4 percent had an emergency or drop-in child care arrangement at their workplace.
Spouse’s or Partner’s Employment
A minority of families (39 percent) included a partner or spouse. In most of those families (82%), the partner or spouse was employed. Nonstandard hours of employment were even more common among partners and spouses. Eighty-one percent of employed spouses or partners worked non-standard schedules compared with 73 percent of employed mothers.
Work Schedules, Use of Non-Parental Care in General, and Use of Child Care Centers in Particular
The preceding discussion of employment is only a characterization of families using non-parental care. We cannot think of these households as a group that decided to use non-parental care because of their employment characteristics. Rather, at the risk of oversimplifying somewhat, we can think of household structure (presence of partner or spouse and age of youngest child) and low-income status as exogenous factors that shape both employment and child care decisions. Clearly, low-income parents in general are less likely to have the option not to work than more affluent parents. Low-income, single parents with infants may be able to choose not to work (depending on state TANF policy and practice); may choose to work regular or irregular hours and use family day care or in-home care; and may be able to choose to work regular hours and use center care (depending on the availability of center care for infants and of low- to medium-skill jobs with regular hours).
Low-income, single parents with preschoolers are less likely to have the option not to work, but may be able to choose to work regular hours and use center care, although these options may again be limited if their educational attainment is low and they have few job skills. Like other parents, they may also work regular or irregular hours and use family day care or in-home care. Low-income, single parents with school-age children may have the additional option of working only when their children are in school. Low-income couples have all of these choices, plus the additional option of one parent not working or working only when the other parent is available to provide child care.
When we look at those low-income families that are using non-parental care, therefore, by definition we are excluding significant groups of low-income families, single parents of infants in some states who choose not to work, single parents of school-age children in some states who choose to work only “mothers’ hours,” and couples that opt to have one parent not work or coordinate their work and child care responsibilities.
Once these groups of families have been eliminated, the choices for families that remain are the joint selection of mode of care and work schedule. Overall, one-quarter of families used center care (or an organized after-school program) (Exhibit 3.7). Use of center care varied by age of child: 30 percent of families with children under 5 years of age used center care, compared with 20 percent of families with school-age children.21 Single mothers working irregular hours were substantially less likely to choose center care than those working regular hours (24 percent versus 38 percent). Among two-parent families, however, the irregularity of the mother’s hours had only a small effect on the likelihood of choosing center care, perhaps because the other parent was available to provide care during the hours that the center-based program did not operate.
| Parents' work schedules | Mode of care | |
|---|---|---|
| Home-based care (% of Families) | Child care center, preschool or after-school program (% of Families) | |
| Single mother, regular hours | 62.1 | 37.9 |
| Single mother, irregular hours | 75.9 | 24.1 |
| Single mother in school or job training | 78.0 | 22.1 |
| Couple, mother working regular hours | 73.2 | 26.9 |
| Couple, mother working irregular hours | 77.2 | 22.8 |
| Couple, mother in school, training or job search | 83.7 | 16.3 |
| Couple, spouse/partner not working | 72.4 | 27.6 |
| All families | 75.3 | 24.7 |
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