The availability of child care, and the ability to make backup child care arrangements in emergencies, is another important aspect of families’ comfort in their communities. Parents of children aged 0-5 were asked how many times in the past month they had had to make different child care arrangements due to circumstances beyond their control, and whether anyone in the family had had to quit a job, not take a job, or greatly change their job because of child care problems within the past year. Overall, parents of 27.5 percent of young children had to make alternative child care arrangements at least once in the past month and parents of 11.1 percent reported that they or someone in the family had to make a job change (quit a job, not take a job, or make significant changes at a current job) because of child care problems. Parents of approximately one-third of children (33.2 percent) reported that they had had either or both of these child care issues.

Problems with child care appear to be more common among two-parent stepfamilies than in other types of families. The parents of nearly one-third of children in two-parent stepfamilies (32.7 percent) reported that they had to make different arrangements at least once in the past month, and parents of 21.4 percent had to make a job change due to child care problems. Among children of single mothers, the parents of 30.8 percent had to make different child care arrangements in an emergency and parents of 14.9 percent had to make a job change for child care reasons. Among children with two biological or adoptive parents, parents of 26.3 percent had to make different child care arrangements and parents of 9.7 percent had to make a job change.