The child care data presented in the detailed tables come from the eight interviews of the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Panel conducted between June and September of 2006, and refer to child care arrangements used in the month prior to the interview. These data continue a series that dates back to 1985.
Data users should take special note that SIPP child care data collected in 2006 cannot be compared directly with SIPP child care data from previous years due to seasonality differences, such as preschool closings, seasonal variations in school activities, and availability of child care arrangements. The 2006 child care data was collected during summer months, whereas previous survey years typically collected data during spring or fall months.
Information collected on child care through SIPP has evolved over the years to include comprehensive data on child care use, cost, and receipt of government assistance. Beginning with the 1996 SIPP panel, child care data was collected about all arrangements for all children under the age of 15, regardless of parental labor force status. Earlier SIPP panels only collected data on the primary and secondary child care arrangements for a limited number of children, and usually only for employed parents.
Definitions of terms used in the tables and a table of contents are provided below.
CHILD CARE DEFINITIONS
The universe of respondents in the SIPP child care module consists of adults who are the parents of children under 15 years old. A designated parent is selected in households where both parents are present to report child care arrangements for each child. In married-couple families, the mother is the designated parent. If the mother is not available for an interview, proxy responses are accepted from the father or husband. In single-parent families, the resident parent is the designated parent. If neither parent is in the household, the guardian is the designated parent. Designated parents include biological, step- and adoptive parents, or other relatives/non-relatives acting as a guardian in the absence of parents.
Child care providers can be broadly classified as being relatives or nonrelatives of children. Relatives include mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, and other relatives such as aunts, uncles, and cousins. Non-relatives include in-home babysitters, neighbors, friends, and other non-relatives providing care either in the child's or the provider’s home. It also includes family day care providers who are non-relatives who care for one or more unrelated children in the provider’s home. Organized care includes day care, nursery or preschool, and federal Head Start programs for those 5 years and younger. Kindergarten/grade school is also included in the organized care total for children under 5 years. To present a comprehensive view of the regular weekly experiences of children under 15 years old, this report also shows the incidence of children enrolled in school and enrichment activities (such as sports, lessons, clubs, and after- and before-school care programs), and the time children are in self-care situations.
Some parents may not be able to specify an arrangement that is used on a regular basis at least once a week and may reply as having no regular arrangement. Enrollment in kindergarten/grade school and time spent in self-care are shown in the tables for informational purposes even though they are not considered to be child care arrangements. In addition, the term multiple arrangements is used to designate children in more than one child care arrangement on a regular basis.
The design and implementation of the SIPP child care module may lead to a certain amount of age shifting. Age shifting occurs when a child’s birthday falls between the enrollment period for a child care program (i.e. school, Head Start, etc.) and the period that the SIPP survey takes place. For example, a five-year child enrolled in Head Start who turns six by the time of the survey would be out of universe for the Head Start question at interview date, resulting in an undercount of children in Head Start. Further information about Head Start enrollment can be found at the Office of Head Start. Data users seeking to obtain counts of children in Head Start are advised to use administrative data provided by the Head Start program. See their website at: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc
Detailed Tables
| Table 1A: | Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers Under 5 Years Old Living with Mother, by Employment Status of Mother and Selected Characteristics: Summer 2006 (Numbers) Excel (55k) | CSV (27k) |
| Table 1B: | Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers Under 5 Years Old Living with Mother, by Employment Status of Mother and Selected Characteristics: Summer 2006 (Percentages) Excel (56k) | CSV (24k) |
| Table 2A: | Primary Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers Under 5 Years Old Living with Employed Mothers by Selected Characteristics: Summer 2006 (Numbers) Excel (26k) | CSV (8k) |
| Table 2B: | Primary Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers Under 5 Years Old Living with Employed Mothers by Selected Characteristics: Summer 2006 (Percentages) Excel (27k) | CSV (8k) |
| Table 3A: | Child Care Arrangements of Gradeschoolers 5 to 14 Years Old Living with Mother, by Employment Status of Mother and Selected Characteristics: Summer 2006 (Numbers) Excel (64k) | CSV (37k) |
| Table 3B: | Child Care arrangements of Gradeschoolers 5 to 14 Years Old Living with Mother, by Employment Status of Mother and Selected Characteristics: Summer 2006 (Percentages) Excel (67k) | CSV (31k) |
| Table 4. | Children in Self-Care, by Age of Child, Employment Status of Mother, and Selected Characteristics for Children Living Mother: Summer 2006 (Numbers and Percentages) Excel (39k) | CSV (18k) |
| Table 5. | Families with Employed Mothers that Make Child Care Payments, by Age Groups and Selected Characteristics: Summer 2006 (Numbers and Percentages) Excel (23k) | CSV (6k) |
| Table 6. | Average Weekly Child Care Expenditures of Families with Employed Mothers that Make Payments, by Age Groups and Selected Characteristics: Summer 2006 (Numbers and Percentages) Excel (25k) | CSV (8k) |
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