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II. PATTERNS OF CHILD CARE USE AND EARLY HEAD START’S IMPACTS ON FAMILIES’ CHILD CARE USE
The child care available to children through participation in the Early Head Start program varied by program approach (for an in-depth discussion, see Pathways to Quality, ACF 2002c). All four center-based programs provided Early Head Start services through center care, typically for 6 hours or more per day. Parents needing child care at other hours could often extend the child’s time at the center to meet this need. Of the 11 Early Head Start programs that we considered as offering a mixed approach in 1999, six programs offered on-site child care to some children in the program, and contracted with, or referred families to, child care providers in their communities for good-quality center child care. Home-based programs also found a variety of ways to connect families with the child care they needed. For example, one undertook a community initiative to improve the quality of community child care used by its families, and another began providing respite care in a small on-site center. When families used child care settings that were not directly provided by Early Head Start programs, the community child care was sometimes arranged for by the program, while in other instances families found care on their own.
Thus, across all programs, Early Head Start children could be found in the full range of child care settings, including center care (some meeting Head Start performance standards and some not), family child care (regulated and not regulated), and in-home care (with relatives or nonrelatives). All these categories of arrangements are included in the analyses of child care use and quality reported here.1
This chapter presents two sets of findings. The first is descriptive: we report on the patterns of child care arrangements families used, including who and how many used child care, how much and what kinds of child care they used, how usage varied by the program approach of the program families were enrolled in, and how satisfied they were with the arrangements they used. The second major section documents the difference that Early Head Start made in families’ use of child care by comparing both the percentage of families using child care and the amount of care used with the experiences of the randomly assigned control group families. First, however, we describe how the study measured child care use.
A. MEASURING CHILD CARE USE IN THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF LIFE
Our information on the types and characteristics of child care used at children’s 14-month, 24-month, and 36-month birth dates is taken from the Parent Services Interviews (PSIs) and the 36-month Parent Interview (PI). We focus on all child care arrangements used for at least 10 hours per week for 2 weeks or more at 14, 24, and 36 months of age. Because the PSIs were administered at three specific times following random assignment (or the families’ initial program enrollment) and asked about the family’s child care use in the period since the last PSI, we were able to document use by month and link this to children’s ages. This matching of child care use to children’s ages worked well for the 14- and 24-month birth dates. Moreover, response rates to the PSIs were acceptably high, ranging from 82 percent at 6 months after random assignment to 70 percent at 27 months after random assignment.
Matching child care information from the PSIs to the 36-month birth date posed more difficulties, because more than two-thirds of the children had not reached their third birthday when the final PSI was collected. To create the 36-month use variables for these children, we filled in missing data for the younger children using the less-complete information in the Parent Interview conducted when children were approximately 36 months old.2
B. PATTERNS OF CHILD CARE USE BY EARLY HEAD START FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
First, we describe Early Head Start program families’ patterns of child care use when children were 14, 24, and 36 months old. We describe the proportion of families who used child care, the types of primary child care arrangements they used, the amount of time children spent in child care, and the number of child care arrangements they used at each age (see Box II.1).3
Regular Child Care Arrangement – Any child care arrangement used for the focus child for at least 10 hours per week that lasted for 2 weeks or more. Child care arrangements included care by nonrelatives and by relatives other than a resident parent, and could take place in the child’s home, in another home, or in a child care center. This report uses information pertaining to the months in which the child was 14, 24, and 36 months old. Primary Child Care Arrangement – The type of child care arrangement used for the most hours per week in the months when the child was 14, 24, or 36 months old. Child Care Center – A child care center, nursery school, or preschool arrangement; a Head Start or Early Head Start center; or a school-based child care setting. Relative Provider – Care in the child’s home or in another home by a relative of the child. Nonrelative Provider – Care in the child’s home or in another home by someone not related to the child. No Child Care – The child was not using any child care arrangement for at least 10 hours per week, and that lasted for 2 weeks or more, during the month when he or she was 14, 24, or 36 months old. Early Head Start Center – The child was cared for in a child care center run by the Early Head Start program; the center is expected to meet Head Start Program Performance Standards. Number of Child Care Arrangements – Number of different child care arrangements used in the months when the child was 14, 24, or 36 months old. Each arrangement must have lasted at least 10 hours per week and for 2 weeks or more. Hours Per Week of Child Care – Total hours per week in regular child care arrangements used concurrently in the months when the child was 14, 24, or 36 months old. Use of Child Care During Nonstandard Hours – Child care provider ever cared for the child during evenings, in the early mornings, on weekends, or overnight. Respondents self-defined what constituted the timing of this care, for example, what “early” morning care meant. Percentage Satisfied with Child Care – Proportion of parents who reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the child care arrangement used for the most hours since the last interview date. |
1. Proportion of All Early Head Start Families Who Used Child Care
Most Early Head Start children were in regular child care arrangements at all three ages we examined, and the proportion in care increased as the children got older.4 At 14 months of age, two-thirds (66 percent) of children were in a regular child care arrangement; the proportion dropped slightly at 24 months, and then increased to 84 percent by the time children reached 36 months of age (Figure II.1).
Families enrolled in center-based programs were most likely to use regular child care arrangements, followed by families enrolled in mixed-approach and home-based programs. This pattern is what would be expected given the stated purposes of these Early Head Start program approaches. Center-based programs were exclusively center-based, advertised themselves as such, and attracted families who were more likely to need and want center care for their children. Mixed-approach programs, which included a combination of center care and home visiting services were likely to attract more families desiring center care than purely home-based programs, but fewer of these families than the center-based programs.
When the children were 14 months old, 84 percent of families who were enrolled in center-based programs used child care for their Early Head Start child, compared to 67 percent of families in mixed-approach programs and 55 percent in home-based programs. By 36 months, however, families in mixed-approach (87 percent) and home-based (81 percent) programs were almost as likely as families enrolled in center-based programs (86 percent) to use child care (not shown).
The use of center child care also increased as children got older—from one-third of families when children were 14 months old to nearly two-thirds of families by the time children were 36 months old (see middle section of Figure II.1). This trend is consistent with the majority of studies on child care use. Nearly one-fifth of families used an Early Head Start child care center at all three age points studied (right-hand section of Figure II.1).
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As expected, more families who were enrolled in center-based programs used center child care for their Early Head Start child compared to families in mixed-approach and home-based programs. At 14 months, two-thirds of families in center-based programs used a child care center, compared to one-third of mixed-approach families and 17 percent of home-based families.5 By age 36 months, use of center care had increased among families enrolled in all three program approaches. However, as expected, a higher proportion of families in center-based programs used center care, compared to families enrolled in the other two program approaches. Approximately 80 percent of families in center-based programs used center care, compared to two-thirds of mixed-approach and half of home-based families (not shown).
2. Characteristics of Early Head Start Families Who Used Child Care
The parents’ education level and economic activities at the time they enrolled in Early Head Start (that is, the time of random assignment), the household composition at that time, and whether the child was firstborn were all associated with the likelihood of using child care. Table II.1 shows the proportion of children in child care at 14, 24, and 36 months of age for groups of Early Head Start parents (or families) defined by their characteristics at random assignment. Specifically, the main patterns are that:
- Birth order: Firstborn children
were more likely than later-born children to be in care when they
were 14 and 24 months old, but not at 36 months.
- Educational attainment: Parents
who had completed high school or had their GED were generally
more likely to have their children in child care than were parents
with less education.
- Living arrangements: Parents
who lived alone or with other adults at the time of random assignment
were more likely to have their children in child care at all three
age points (in contrast to parents who lived with their spouse).
- Male presence in the home: Families
without a man living in the home at baseline were more likely
to have their children in care at all three age points, compared
with families with a man in the home.
- Employment status: Parents employed
at baseline were more likely to have their children in care at
14 and 24 months, but not when children were 36 months old. Parents
who were out of the labor force and not in school or training
at baseline were less likely to have their children in care at
all three ages.
- Race/ethnicity: African American parents were more likely to use child care at all three ages than White or Hispanic parents, although the difference in usage was considerably smaller when the children were 36 months old.
| Age of Child | 14 Months | 24 Months | 36 Months | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family Characteristics at Enrollment | Total Sample Size |
Percent in Care |
Total Sample Size |
Percent in Care |
Total Sample Size |
Percent in Care |
| Child Is Firstborn | 619 | 71 | 493 | 65 | 446 | 86 |
| Child Is Later Born | 368 | 60 | 317 | 53 | 260 | 84 |
| Parent's Education Is Less than 12 years | 433 | 63 | 361 | 56 | 294 | 83 |
| Parent's Education Is 12 years or GED | 272 | 67 | 226 | 62 | 207 | 87 |
| Parents Education Is More Than 12 Years | 254 | 73 | 206 | 65 | 182 | 83 |
| Parent Lives with Spouse | 250 | 48 | 218 | 39 | 169 | 71 |
| Parent Lives with Other Adults | 383 | 72 | 317 | 71 | 270 | 89 |
| Parent Lives Alone with Child | 364 | 74 | 285 | 64 | 276 | 89 |
| Adult Male Not in Household | 607 | 72 | 492 | 66 | 453 | 90 |
| Adult Male in Household | 390 | 58 | 328 | 51 | 262 | 76 |
| Parent Employed | 234 | 82 | 198 | 76 | 193 | 87 |
| Parent in School/Training | 218 | 78 | 174 | 69 | 161 | 90 |
| Parent Unemployed/Out of the Labor Force | 512 | 56 | 421 | 49 | 337 | 80 |
| White, Non-Hispanic | 368 | 64 | 303 | 54 | 256 | 80 |
| Black, Non-Hispanic | 363 | 78 | 285 | 71 | 275 | 89 |
| Hispanic | 213 | 55 | 189 | 53 | 146 | 84 |
| Other Race/Ethnicity | 36 | 58 | 28 | 50 | 24 | 75 |
| Source: Background characteristics information gathered at
enrollment. Information on child care collected from the Parent
Service Interviews (PSIs) and the Parent Interviews (PIs).
Note: Most children had not reached their 36-month birthday by the time the 26-month PSI was collected. If the child was 36 months old by that time, child care information was obtained from the PSI. If the child was not 36 months old at the time of the last PSI, 36-month child care information was taken from the 36-month birthday PI. The background characteristics above are the only ones for which the distribution of children in care and not in care significantly differed at any time point. |
3. Types of Primary Child Care Arrangements Used
We next examined the primary child care arrangements of Early Head Start families, that is, the regular arrangement that the child was in for the most hours per week. The primary child care arrangement could be an Early Head Start center, another child care center in the community, or some form of family child care.
Among all Early Head Start children using child care, center care was the most common primary child care arrangement at all age points (Figure II.2), which differs from the pattern of infant-toddler child care arrangements found in the general population. This probably reflects the fact that many Early Head Start programs provided center care. Approximately one in five Early Head Start families used a relative (most often, a grandparent or great-grandparent) as their child’s primary child care provider. One in 10 families used a nonrelative, home-based provider—such as a licensed family child care home or a friend or neighbor—as the Early Head Start child’s primary child care provider.
[D] |
Although Early Head Start families were more likely to use center care as their primary arrangement for the child at any age, the proportion using center care increased substantially as the children became older, a trend consistent with child care choices observed in the general population (Capizzano, Adams, and Sonenstein 2002; Ehrle, Adams, and Tout 2001; and Smith 2002). When the children were 14 and 24 months of age, 30 percent of families relied primarily on a child care center for their Early Head Start child. By age 36 months, nearly half of families (48 percent) used a child care center as their child’s primary arrangement (Figure II.2).
At each age, the type of primary arrangement also varied by the program approach Early Head Start families enrolled in. As expected, families who were enrolled in center-based programs were more likely than families in home-based or mixed-approach programs to use child care centers at 36 months of age (as seen in Figure II.3, the percentage using child care centers across the three program approaches was 68, 36, and 50 percent, respectively). When their children were 36 months of age, families enrolled in home-based programs were most likely to use relatives as primary child care providers (27 percent); comparable percentages for families in center-based and mixed-approach programs were 14 and 24 percent, respectively (Figure II.3). Use of nonrelative, family child care providers across program approaches followed a pattern similar to the patterns of using relative providers. Families in home-based programs were most likely to use a nonrelative, family child care provider (15 percent), compared to families in center-based (3 percent) and mixed-approach (13 percent) programs (Figure II.3).
[D] |
A substantial proportion of children received care in their primary child care arrangement during nonstandard work hours on at least one occasion. For example, at 24 months of age, 34 percent of all children had ever received care in their primary child care arrangement during evening hours, 61 percent during early morning hours, 21 percent during weekend hours, and 16 percent during overnight hours (Figure II.4).6
[D] |
The primary child care providers for the families enrolled in home-based programs were more likely to offer care during nonstandard hours than were the primary providers used by families in center-based or mixed-approached programs. For instance, 40 percent of primary providers used by home-based families had ever provided evening care, compared to 29 percent of the primary providers used by center-based and mixed-approach families. These differences may be due, in part, to the higher proportion of home-based families who used relative and nonrelative family child care providers as their primary child care arrangement, in contrast to the proportion of center-based and mixed-approach families. Because they cared for the child at home, relatives and other family child care providers may have been able to offer more flexible hours of care than child care centers could.
4. Intensity of Child Care Service Use
The average number of hours that Early Head Start children—across all 17 programs—spent in their regular child care arrangements increased as they got older, as is typically the case. Considering all children in the sample, including those who had zero hours in child care, at age 14 months, children spent 29 hours per week, on average, in their regular child care arrangements (including Early Head Start centers and any other arrangements they were in), compared to 32 hours a week by 36 months of age (Figure II.5). Nearly half (49 percent) of the Early Head Start children spent at least 30 hours in their regular child care arrangements at 14 months, and by 36 months of age, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) spent at least 30 hours a week in care (Figure II.6). The proportion of children who spent 30 or more hours a week in their regular child care arrangements stayed about constant (or declined slightly) between 14 and 24 months, then increased substantially by 36 months across all three program approaches. At all three ages, center-based programs had the highest proportion of children in care for 30 or more hours a week, followed by mixed-approach and then home-based programs (Figure II.6).
 [D] |
 [D] |
The average number of hours that children spent in child care centers nearly doubled between 14 and 36 months of age. At 14 months, children spent an average of 13 hours a week in center child care (including both Early Head Start and community centers, and averaging in those who spent no time in child care). By 36 months, they spent 22 hours a week, on average, in child care centers (see middle section of Figure II.5). Families in center-based programs—as we would expect—used the most hours of center care, followed by families in mixed-approach and home-based programs. When their children were 36 months old, two-thirds of center-based families, half of mixed-approach families, and 40 percent of home-based families used at least 30 hours a week of center care for their Early Head Start child (Figure II.7).
[D] |
5. Number of Regular Child Care Arrangements Used
Most Early Head Start families used only one regular child care arrangement for their Early Head Start child at 24 months of age. Fifteen percent, however, used more than one regular, concurrent arrangement (not shown). Across program approaches, families in center-based programs were the ones most likely to use multiple concurrent child care arrangements, suggesting that Early Head start centers did not provide child care during all the hours that families needed it. Thirty percent of center-based families used multiple concurrent arrangements, compared to 15 percent of mixed-approach families and 6 percent of home-based families.
6. Early Head Start Families’ Satisfaction with Child Care Arrangements
Parents seek many different features in a child care setting. For infants and toddlers, they look for a warm, supportive provider, a safe environment, and attention to health issues (Larner and Phillips 1994). Parents also look for an affordable arrangement, a location close to home or work, hours of care that coincide with their needs, providers they can trust not to harm the child, and cultural continuity (Emlen 1998; Mitchell, Cooperstein, and Larner 1992; and Porter 1991). Parents may also need a setting that can accommodate children of very different ages. Because these needs may compete with one another, parents must often make tradeoffs among desired features as they choose among the available arrangements.
Perhaps because parents make tradeoffs among desirable features of care and choose what they perceive to be the best of the available arrangements, past research has found that parents typically report high levels of satisfaction with their child care arrangements. In summarizing the literature on parents’ satisfaction with care, Phillips (1995) noted that about 95 percent of low-income families with children under age 5 in care say they are satisfied or highly satisfied. Families enrolled in Early Head Start and using child care also expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the child care they used for their children. At an average of 28 months after program enrollment, 95 percent of families expressed satisfaction with their recent primary child care arrangements (Figure II.8). Nearly three-fourths of families were very satisfied. At 7 and 16 months after enrollment, levels of satisfaction were similar to those at 28 months.
[D] |
When asked specifically about aspects of the primary child care arrangement that are associated with the quality of the child’s experience, Early Head Start parents reported similarly high levels of satisfaction. For example, 97 percent were satisfied with the amount of attention their children received, 93 percent were satisfied with how much their children were learning, 97 percent were satisfied with how safe their children were, and 96 percent were satisfied with how good their provider was with children.
The proportion of parents who were very satisfied with these aspects of child care ranged from 68 to 76 percent. A somewhat lower proportion of parents in home-based programs said they were very satisfied with these aspects of their child care arrangements, compared to parents in center-based and mixed-approach programs (not shown). For example, while 79 percent of center-based parents and 78 percent of mixed-approach parents were very satisfied with their children’s safety in child care, 73 percent of home-based parents were very satisfied. In the area of child learning, more center-based parents were very satisfied (74 percent), compared to 68 percent of mixed-approach and 65 percent of parents in home-based programs (not shown).
Research by Emlen and colleagues (1998, 1999) indicates that parents’ reports of high levels of satisfaction with child care can mask concerns over arrangements that are not ideal, although they may be perceived as the best available for the family. Emlen’s research showed that while 93 percent of parents rated their child care arrangements as perfect, excellent, or good, fewer said they would choose the arrangement again (84 percent), and an even smaller proportion said that, “the care I have is just what my child needs” (68 percent). Among Early Head Start families at 28 months after enrollment, nearly one-third of parents said they would prefer to change child care arrangements if cost were not a barrier (not shown). However, the proportion of parents who wanted to change child care arrangements dropped over time—from 38 percent at 7 months after enrollment to 30 percent at 16 months and 29 percent at 28 months—suggesting that as children became older, parents were more likely to find a child care arrangement they liked.
The proportion of parents who wanted to change child care arrangements varied somewhat by program approach. Families in home-based programs were somewhat more likely (32 percent) to prefer a different child care arrangement at 28 months after enrollment, compared to 26 percent of parents in mixed-approach and 28 percent in center-based programs (not shown).
Of those families who said they would like to change child care arrangements, 80 percent preferred a center arrangement at 28 months after enrollment—either in a child care center (49 percent) or in a nursery school, preschool, or Head Start center (31 percent) (Figure II.9). Smaller proportions of families at 28 months preferred relative providers (8 percent), nonrelative providers such as friends or neighbors (5 percent), or other types of arrangements (6 percent).
 [D] |
The proportion of families who preferred a center arrangement increased over time, perhaps because parents’ child care preferences shifted from home to center settings as their children got older. At 7 months after enrollment, 67 percent of those wanting to change arrangements wanted center care. By 16 months after enrollment, that proportion increased to 73 percent (and to 80 percent at 28 months). Similarly, the percentage of families who wanted to change arrangements to relative care decreased over time—from 19 percent at 7 months after enrollment, to 15 percent at 16 months, and 8 percent after 28 months in the program. The reasons families wanted to change arrangements varied according to the type of arrangements they preferred (Figure II.10). Of those who preferred center care, nearly half thought centers would help their children learn better, and 20 percent wanted their child to be with other children. Families who preferred relative care cited increased safety and convenience as their primary reasons for wanting to change arrangements.
[D] |
7. Summary of Child Care Use Findings
Most Early Head Start children were in regular child care arrangements at all three ages (14, 24, and 36 months), with 84 percent in care at 36 months. Parents using child care differed somewhat from those who did not in that child care users were more highly educated, more likely to be living alone, more likely to be African American, and more likely to be employed at random assignment. The types of primary arrangements used varied by the age of the child. It may be useful for programs to know that the percentage of families using center care increases as children get older. The amount of care used by families also increases with age, but only slightly. Even though some families did not place their children in out-of-home care at all, the average child spent 29 hours a week in care at 14 months and 32 hours when they were 36 months old. At all three ages, families enrolled in center-based programs were more likely to have their children in child care 30 or more hours per week, with mixed-approach and home-based programs having lower proportions. Early Head Start families were highly satisfied with the child care they received, but if they could make a change and did not have to worry about costs, about 30 percent would change, and most of them would prefer to use a child care center rather than family child care.
C. IMPACTS OF EARLY HEAD START PROGRAM PARTICIPATION ON FAMILIES’ CHILD CARE USE
As noted in Chapter I, one of Early Head Start’s goals is to ensure families access to needed child care. In this section we report the results of our analysis of the impacts that the program had on child care use. In the next chapter, we describe impacts on the quality of the care used by Early Head Start and control group families.
1. Approach to Analyzing Impacts on Child Care Use
The impacts of the Early Head Start programs on child care use and amount (or intensity) of use were analyzed using the same methods used for analyzing service use in the national evaluation’s interim and final reports (see ACYF 2001; and ACF 2002b, Chapter II). That is, we estimated regression-adjusted means of child care usage for Early Head Start program and control group families to produce precise impact estimates adjusted for any differences in observable characteristics of program and control group families due to random sampling and interview nonresponse. All eligible applicants who completed a 28-month PSI were included in these analyses. We also weighted the impacts at each site equally in analyzing the overall impacts of Early Head Start on child care use.
We included a large number of explanatory (control) variables in the regression models using data collected at baseline with the Head Start Family Information System (HSFIS). Child care use data were obtained in the Parent Services Interviews (PSI), but, as noted earlier, we created age-related child care use variables by linking PSI data to the age of the child, supplementing the later PSI variables with data from the 36-month Parent Interviews to fill in missing data for children who were not yet 36 months old when the final PSI was completed.
2. Early Head Start Program Impacts on the Percentage of Families Using Child Care and on the Amount of Care Used
While most families in both program and control groups used child care, Early Head Start children were significantly more likely than control children to be in child care at all three ages. These program-control differences (that is, the impact of Early Head Start program participation) became smaller as children got older and increasing numbers of control families placed their children in child care. At 14 months of age, 66 percent of Early Head Start children were in child care, compared to 57 percent of control group children. By 36 months of age, the percentage of Early Head Start children in any child care rose to 84 percent, while the percentage of control group children in child care increased to 78 percent (Figure II.11)—a smaller difference, though still significantly different statistically.
[D] |
[D] |
The impact of Early Head Start program participation on families’ use of center care was greater than the impact on any child care use, and this was true at all three ages (as seen by comparing Figures II.11 and II.12). At 14 months of age, 34 percent of program families used a child care center (including those operated by Early Head Start and community centers), compared to 17 percent of control families (Figure II.12). While the proportion of children in center care increased in both groups as children got older, the size of the impact on use of center child care decreased somewhat, as more control families placed their children in child care centers. By the time they were 36 months old, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of program group children were in center care, compared to approximately one-half (52 percent) of control group children.
Not only did participation in Early Head Start programs make it more likely that families would use any child care: it also made a significant difference in the amount of child care that families used, compared with control group families. By the time children were 36 months old, program children were in any child care for 32 hours a week and in center care for 23 hours a week, on average (Figures II.13 and II.14). In contrast, control group children spent an average of 28 hours a week in any child care and 18 hours a week in center care, about four-fifths of the center care time used by program families.
[D] |
[D] |
Early Head Start families were significantly more likely than control families to use multiple, concurrent child care arrangements (more than one arrangement at a time). At 24 months of age, 15 percent of program families used concurrent arrangements, compared to 11 percent of control families (not shown). Program families may have had a greater need for multiple arrangements to cover all the hours during which they needed child care because they used significantly more center care than control families. Centers may have been less likely than family child care providers, including relatives, to offer care during nonstandard hours, such as evenings and weekends.
Early Head Start families were significantly less likely to use child care during nonstandard hours—control group families were significantly more likely to have ever used child care during evenings and weekends than were Early Head Start families (Figure II.15). Control group families used a higher proportion of family child care providers, such as relatives and other in-home child care providers, who may have been able to offer more flexible hours of care. In contrast, program group families were more likely to use center arrangements, which are less likely to be open during evenings and weekends.
 [D] |
Conclusion
This chapter has shown that the families with infants and toddlers enrolled in Early Head Start programs that were included in the national evaluation used substantial amounts of child care, and that the amount of care used increased as the children got older. Child care was provided by Early Head Start as well as by community providers, reflecting the community-oriented nature of Early Head Start’s approach to child care as envisioned by the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers. Early Head Start families used a variety of types of child care and were highly satisfied with the care they received. As hoped by the Early Head Start program designers, the program had substantial and significant impacts on the percentage of families using any child care, as well as on the amount of care they used. The impacts on the percentage of families using center care and the amount of center care used were even larger than when all types of child care arrangements were considered.
1 In this report, we refer to all in-home child care settings as "family child care," whether care was provided by a relative or nonrelative caregiver. Because the regulation of care provided in home settings varies from state to state, and because information about these arrangements came from parent reports, we did not collect information about whether they were registered or licensed. Thus, our references to family child care include care provided by relatives and nonrelatives, as well as regulated and unregulated care. (back)
2 The 36-month Parent Interview collected information that is comparable to the PSI data on some aspects of child care service use. However, other data collected in the PSI, such as the availability of child care during nonstandard work hours, were not collected in the 36-month Parent Interview. For these variables, we report on service use at age 24 months only. (back)
3 The data for these analyses are from the Parent Services Interviews, as described in Chapter I. The findings thus apply to all families who completed the PSIs, but describe child care use at the time of the birthday-related Parent Interviews. As noted, PSI data are not available for parents who completed the last PSI (at about 28 months after enrollment) before the child was 36 months old, so that the child care data were taken from the Parent Interview, which asked fewer questions. (back)
4 A "regular" child care arrangement is defined as one that lasted for 10 hours per week or more for at least two weeks outside the child's home (or by a nonrelative in the child's home). (back)
5 The percentage of families in center-based programs using center care is less than 100 percent for a number of reasons. For example, some families who were enrolled in center-based programs dropped out before their child reached 14 months of age and one site did not complete its center-based facility until after the data collection. (back)
6 These percentages total more than 100 percent because some primary nonstandard arrangements took place in more than one time period (for example, during evenings and weekends). Respondents self-defined what constituted "evening," "early morning," and "weekend" hours. (back)
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