ACF OPRE: Evaluation Data Coordination Project (EDCP)

NATIONAL STUDY OF CHILD CARE FOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES

Purpose

The National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families will provide Federal, state and local policymakers with information on how states and communities implement policies and programs to meet the child care needs of families moving from welfare to work (and other low-income families); how policies change over time; and the effect of relationships between policies and other factors on the type, amount, and cost of care in communities. That is, the effects of Federal, state, and local policies and programs on child care at the community level and on the employment and child care decisions of low-income families are being examined. Additionally, the study examines factors that affect the decisions that low-income families make about child care and what role child care subsidies have on the families’ decisions. The study will also provide insights into the characteristics and functioning of family child care for a group of families (a little-studied type of care frequently used by low-income families) and the experiences of parents and their children with this form of care (e.g., the extent to which family child care meets parents’ work-related needs and children’s needs).

For more information:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000, November). National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families: State and community substudy interim report. Washington, DC: Author. Available at http://abtassociates.com/reports/NSCCLIF.pdf

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/index.html

Agencies/Institutions

The study is funded by the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The study is being conducted by Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University’s Joseph Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

Research/Survey Design

The National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families is a nonexperimental, longitudinal 5-year research effort in 25 communities in 17 states. The study consists of a three-level nested sample: communities within states and families and providers within communities. The communities are a nationally representative sample of counties with child poverty rates above 14% but are not nationally representative of all 50 states. Investigators are using state plans, surveys, and interviews over 3 years to examine state child care policies, practices, regulations, and resource allocations. Communities are being studied with similar methods, along with focus groups and site observations.

The family level of the study includes several samples. For example, 2,500 low-income families (under 200% of poverty) with working parents who use nonparental child care for at least one child under age 13 are part of a random-digit dialing telephone survey. Other samples include 650 low-income parents who are receiving, or are eligible for, child care subsidies and are using family child care at the start of the study and their family child care providers. Investigators are documenting the family child care market through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observations in the child’s home and child care setting. A one time survey of 25 low-income families will gather information from families, and multiple studies will be conducted over 2.5 years to gather more detailed family information and to follow changes.

In 5 of the 25 communities, in-person interviews were conducted with low-income parents who received or were eligible for a child care subsidy and who chose family child care at the beginning of the study. Additionally, in-person interviews with family child care providers and observations in the family child care setting were provided.

For more information:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/index.html

Date(s)/Periodicity

The study began in September 1997 and ended in June 2003. Information for the study was collected twice for the states, once in 1999 and again in 2001. Information about the communities was collected three times from 1999 to 2001. Information about the family child care setting was collected once.

For more information:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/index.html

Population/Sample

“Information for the study is collected at three levels, with nested samples of communities within states and families and providers within communities. The first level is a sample of 17 states containing 25 communities that were selected from a national sampling frame to be as close as possible to a representative sample of counties with child poverty rates above 14 percent. At the family level, the study includes several samples: a random sample of 2,500 low-income families (with incomes under 200% of federal poverty guidelines) with working parents and at least one child under age thirteen for whom they use non-parental child care in the 25 communities (100 per community); a sample of 650 low-income parents who are receiving, or are eligible for, child care subsidies, and who are using family child care at the start of the study; and a sample of the 650 family child care providers linked to these 650 families” (DHHS, 2000, p. 9). The sample is not nationally representative of all 50 states.

For more information:

Content Covered

Research questions have been included that pertain to the following areas:

Child care regulatory and monitoring policy
Child care quality, support and coordination efforts
Child care subsidy policies and practices
Changes in child care policies and services over time
Community involvement in child care and community-level child care issues
Factors that shape the child care decisions of low-income families
Role of family child care in helping families manage the competing demands of family child care and work
Character of providers of family child care
Children’s experience in family child care and other care arrangements

Availability of Data for Public Use

Data for public use is not yet available.

Reference List for Users’ Guide, Codebooks, Methodology Report(s)

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