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Child Care Preferences and Child Care Choices: What types of care do low income families usually prefer, and are subsidies successful in helping them obtain care that matches those preferences?
By Michelle Harmon, Anne B Shlay, Henry Tran, Marsha Weinraub
2004

Summary: This document presents research findings showing that low-income African American parents prefer child care that emphasizes the quality of care children experience in child care (i.e., intrinsic factors) over issues related to accessibility (i.e., extrinsic factors). Mothers placed heavy emphasis on characteristics associated with the caregiver, including her experience, training, level of warmth, and how she interacts with the child. Findings also show that subsidized families were more likely to use center care, somewhat more likely to use licensed care, and they paid half as much as non-subsidized families from the same neighborhoods and similar backgrounds. However, the quality of the care was the same for subsidized and unsubsidized families. Care was mediocre to just under good, which is the type of care generally found in these neighborhoods.

Index Terms: Black Americans, Low Income Families, Parent Choice, Research Reports, Subsidized Child Care

Publisher: Temple University

Publication Type: Reports (Descriptive)

Pages: 1 page
Language: English

Availability
Department of Sociology
713 Gladfelter Hall
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
215-204-1494
FAX: 215-204-3352
soc@temple.edu
http://www.temple.edu/sociology/

 
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