Description

The National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families, conducted for the Administration for Children and Families by Abt Associates Inc., and the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University, is a five-year research effort in 17 states and 25 communities. The study is designed to provide information on the responses of states and communities to the child care needs of low-income families, on the employment and child care choices made by low-income families and on the factors that influence those choices. In addition, the study includes an in-depth, longitudinal study of low-income families and their family child care providers in five of the 25 study communities.

Major Research Questions

At the state level, the study uses administrative data, state plans and other documents, as well as intensive interviews with state agency staff to address the following questions:

*What are the strategies that states use to make the most effective use of available funds to meet the child care needs of low-income families? What are states' views of the adequacy of available funds and what efforts are made to change funding levels? How do states balance decisions about who should receive subsidies (eligibility rules), how much parents should be required to contribute (co-payment levels), and how much subsidy individual providers should get (payment rates)? What are state policy makers' rationales for these tradeoffs and their intended effects? What subsidy mechanisms (e.g. vouchers vs. contracts) do states use? On what basis are providers reimbursed for care (i.e., hours of care vs. blocks of time)? What kinds of families receive child care subsidies and for what types of child care?
* What are the systems that states put in place to implement child care programs and coordinate the programs with one another as well as with other programs that serve low-income children and their families? What initiatives are in place to increase the supply of child care and improve access and quality?

At the community level, the study uses analyses of administrative and program data, as well as interviews with agency staff and key informants and focus groups with low-income parents and providers to address the following questions:

*How are state and local child care and welfare policies and programs interpreted and implemented at the local level? How do state subsidy policies on notification, eligibility, parent co-payments, provider fees, form of payment and time formula for payment actually work and what do community members perceive to be their impact?
*What is the community context in which child care programs operate?
*What are the resulting characteristics of the local child care market, especially with respect to the choices available to low-income families?
* How is the child care market for low-income families affected by significant changes in welfare policy and programs?

At the individual level, the study uses a combination of strategies to gather information from a variety of sources, including children. Strategies include: a community survey of low-income parents who are working or in school and using non-parental child care; in-person interviews with low-income working mothers (or custodial fathers) who use family child care and interviews with these family child care providers; observations of young children in their family child care environments; and interviews with children nine to thirteen years of age. Below, we discuss each strategy and the research questions it is designed to address.

The community survey is a random-digit dialing survey of poor and near-poor families in each of the 25 study communities. It will answer the following questions:

*How many different child care arrangements, and what types, do low-income families use?
*What are the factors that influence low-income families' choice of non-parental child care?
*How do different state and local child care and welfare policies affect low-income parents' child care choices?
*What are the factors that influence income-eligible families to apply for child care subsidies?
*What are low-income parents' perceptions about the availability, accessibility and affordability of different kinds of care in their community?
*What proportion of family cash income is spent on child care in low-income families?
*How well do child care arrangements meet low-income parents' work- or education-related needs?
* How does the presence or absence of a child care subsidy affect parents' child care and employment decisions?

In-person interviews in five of the 25 communities with low-income parents who have chosen family child care at the beginning of the study, and who are receiving or are eligible for a child care subsidy, will address the following questions:

*What are the factors that influence parents to choose family child care? How do these change over time?
*How do child care arrangements change over time and what are the reasons for the changes?
*How does the presence or absence of subsidy affect parents' choice of child care provider?
*How does the presence or absence of a subsidy affect the stability and continuity of the child care arrangement?
*How does the presence or absence of a subsidy affect the type, stability and continuity of parents' employment?
*What happens to parental employment and child care arrangements when families lose their subsidy?
* How do aspects of the family child care arrangement, such as the parent's relationship with the provider, the stability, continuity or flexibility of the arrangement, etc., affect parents' ability to work and to balance the competing demands of family and work?

In-person interviews with family child care providers will address the following questions:

*What are the characteristics of family child care providers?
*What is the motivation for providing child care services?
*How do providers view their role?
*What is the nature of the relationship between parents and providers?
*Observations in the family child care setting will address the questions:
*What are the characteristics of the care environment?
*What is the nature of children's experience in the child care setting?
*What is the level of child functioning in the child care settings?
*How do children's experiences change over time?

Interviews with school-age children will address the questions:

*How do school-age children spend their out-of-school time?
*What kinds of activities do children engage in during out-of-school time?
* Who chooses the activities for these school-age children?

Research and Evaluation Design

Information for the study is collected at three levels, with nested samples of communities within states and families and providers within communities. For the study, 25 counties or county clusters were selected from a national sampling frame. Our goal in the selection of counties for the study was to select a sample that, in a broad sense, would be representative of communities where low-income children live. Starting with the NCCS/PCCS sample of 100 counties or county groupings, we identified a subset of 80 with a 1995 poverty rate for children greater than 13.8 percent, which was approximately half the average child poverty rate in that year. When properly weighted, these 80 counties or county groupings represent more than 90 percent of poor children in the US in 1995. Our sample of 25 communities was randomly selected from the 80, with probability proportional to size. The communities selected are contained in 17 states which, though geographically distributed and diverse in terms of size and population characteristics, are not intended to be representative of all 50 states.

At the family level, the study includes several samples: a random sample of 2,500 low-income families1 across the 25 communities with parents working, in school or training at least 20 hours a week, and with at least one child under age 13 for whom they use non-parental care; a sample of 650 low-income parents who are receiving or are eligible for child care subsidies, and are using family child care or relative care; and a sample of 650 family child care providers or relative caregivers linked to the 650 families.

Data Sources

At the state level data for the reports came from: state budgets and administrative data; Current Population Survey; state plans and other documents; and in-depth interviews in each state with key informants (e.g., child are administrators, welfare commissioners, child care licensing staff and others). In each state, between three and five agency staff were interviewed. At the community level, data were collected from Child Care Resource and Referral data systems, interviews with key informants (e.g., local subsidy administrators, advocates, welfare office staff, CCR&R and school district staff); and review of documents. In the 25 communities, the number of key informants ranged from six to 14, depending on the size of the community and the complexity of the child care system. Information from 2,500 parents in the 25 communities who were using non-parental child care was collected through telephone interviews. In addition, information on approximately 6,500 low-income families who completed part or all of the Screening Questionnaire used to identify the 2,500 families for the survey was analyzed to provide a brief description of the care arrangements, both parental and non-parental, of low-income families.

Selected Publications and Finding

Collins, A, Layzer, J I, Kreader, J l., Werner, A., and Glantz,F. State and Community Substudy Interim Report, Abt Associates Inc. 2000

Contact:
Jean I Layzer., Project Director
Phone:9(617) 349-2817
Work Fax: (617) 349-2655
E-Mail: jean_layzer@abtassoc.com

1 With incomes below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines.

Contractor:99Abt Associates Inc.
Subcontractor: National Center for Children in Poverty
Project Number: 105-97-8101
Project Years: 1997 - 2003

© 2003