What happens when grandma isn't around?

I often get calls from researchers, reporters, etc. regarding the common forms of child care. It is often quickly apparent that the standard definition of child care and the perceived and maybe even more "public" definition of child care very different.

I analyze child care used by both working and non-working mothers and broadly define child care providers under two groups: relative or nonrelative. Relatives includes mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, etc. Whereas nonrelatives includes babysitters, neighbors/friends, child care centers, nursery schools, etc.

I find the "public" perception of child care is usually limited to nonrelative care, namely organized child care such as centers and nursery/preschools. Certainly organized child care use has grown over the last twenty years, but relatives still play a vital role in helping working mothers. Grandparents prehaps play the biggest role. In 2005, 4.6 million preschoolers were cared for by their grandparents (Who's Minding the Kids: Spring 2005).

This brings me to Allison Gilbert's recent book, Parentless Parents. Gilbert examines how the lack of grandparents impacts families. Changes in fertility and mobility have made it increasingly likely that parents may not have access to their own parents to help look after their children or pass on family traditions. It's an interesting and often ignored issue. I suggest checking the book out, plus I think Gilbert cites me but I can't promise what I said was any near brilliant ;)

Comparing Measures: Child care costs, CPS, and SIPP

As part of the Census Bureau's mission to develop a supplemental poverty measure, a colleague and I recently completed a working paper comparing child care costs between the 2010 Current Population Survey's Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) and the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Child Care topical module.

The CPS ASEC is one of the main surveys used by the Census Bureau (and the bench mark for much of the federal government) to measure poverty. Child care expenses are an important part of the supplemental poverty measure and it is important that accurate data is collected. New questions regarding child care costs were added to the 2010 CPS ASEC. Our paper compare those results with SIPP (the best source of child care related expenses).

We found that costs estimates collected by CPS ASEC were similar to SIPP, with a few limitations.

The full paper can be found here.

Summer child care arrangements vary

At last! My report is now public. From the press release:

Children are less likely to have regular child care arrangements during the school break in the summer — about 55 percent of preschoolers and 58 percent of grade-schoolers were not in a regular child care placement during the summer of 2006. According to a new U.S. Census Bureau report, those children who do have regular arrangements typically spend more hours in child care during the summer than the rest of the year.

Relatives continued to play an important role in child care during the summer with half of preschoolers and nearly half of all grade-schoolers of employed mothers receiving child care from relatives. These findings are in a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau based on the 2005-2006 Survey of Income and Program Participation.

The report, Who's Minding the Kids? Child Care Arrangements: Spring 2005/Summer 2006 [PDF], provides an analysis of data released in February 2008. These data show the number and characteristics of children in different types of child care arrangements, the differences between child care for preschoolers and older children and the extent of self-care. Information is also provided about the cost of child care arrangements and the number of fathers providing care for their children. Additionally, the report examines new topics such as summer child care arrangements for both preschoolers and grade-schoolers.

“The most recent data provide us with a unique opportunity to examine child care arrangements during summer months and shed light on how families manage the gap between the school year and summer,” said Lynda Laughlin, a family demographer with the Census Bureau.

Several factors can explain the difference between child care in the summer and the rest of the year. For example, school itself is an important source of child care; children are not typically enrolled in school during the summer. Other factors include the closing of child care facilities, the irregularity of work schedules and the occurrence of vacations.

The amount of time spent in organized care for grade-schoolers increased from three hours per week in spring 2005 to 13 hours per week in summer 2006.

Overall, employed mothers were more likely to have regular child care arrangements than nonemployed mothers. In summer 2006, of the 23.7 million grade school-age children whose mothers were employed, 52 percent were in a regular arrangement, compared with 20 percent of the 12.3 million grade school-age children of nonemployed mothers.

Other highlights:

• In spring 2005, 23 percent of preschoolers were regularly cared for by a grandparent and 16 percent were cared for by their father.
• Self-care was much more prevalent among middle school-age children than among those in elementary school: 6 percent of children ages 5 to 11, and 37 percent of ages 12 to 14, regularly cared for themselves. Among all children, the average time spent in self-care was six hours per week.
• Families with an employed mother and children younger than age 15 paid an average of $6,000 a year for child care, an increase of more than $1,000 from a generation ago.
• Families in poverty who paid for child care in 2005 spent a greater portion of their monthly income on child care than did families at or above the poverty level (29 percent compared with 7 percent).
• The percent of the family monthly income spent on child care stayed relatively constant between 1997 and 2005, at around 7 percent.

More child care information can be found on the Census Child Care webpage.

Child Care Constraints Among America's Families

 A paper I presented at the 2008 American Sociological Association meeting is now posted on the web. 

In general, I found that mothers who used nonrelative child care were more likely to experience child care problems that interfered with work. Whereas mothers who used organized child were less likely to report child care problems. 

You can access the paper here:

Child Care Constraints Among America's Families

Detailed tables here

Child Child and Hard Economic Times

Facing economic uncertainty, families are cutting back on costs left and right. One expense that families are cutting back on is child care (see Wall Street Journal article below).

Research has shown that when there is an economic recession, fathers are more likely to provide child care (see Casper and O'Connell 1993). It will be interesting to see if the same trend occurs during the current recession. The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) collects child care data and the 2008 panel will be in the field later next year, so it might be possible to pick up on such a trend. Can't wait to get my hands on the data!


Families Cut Back on Day Care As Costs - and Worries - Rise

By SUE SHELLENBARGE

Behind the drumbeat of grim economic news, a lot of quiet shuffling is going on as parents pull small children out of paid child care.

Enrollment at some child-care centers is falling and nanny agencies are reporting mounting layoffs as families cut child-care costs -- which rival mortgage payments in many households. An October online survey by the women's Web site BettyConfidential.com found that 12% of 100-plus parents who responded are cutting child care.

Some parents are tapping grandparents or even great-grandparents for help. Others are switching to back-to-back shifts to trade off child-care duties. Still others try to work at home with their children present, or even take them to the office. And many wonder just how deeply they can cut child-care costs without hurting the kids.

Caroline Fafara's 3-year-old son and infant twins used to be in a child-care center full-time. But now, facing soaring food and health-insurance costs and pay cuts on her husband's city job, Ms. Fafara has withdrawn the twins and cut her son's preschool hours to part-time. Filling the gap: an elaborate three-generation scaffolding of relatives.

Ms. Fafara, an inventory manager in Philadelphia, drops off her son at preschool each day and her husband takes the twins to his grandparents' house, where his cousin helps care for them. After preschool, Ms. Fafara's parents bring her son to their house. Then, the couple picks everyone up at day's end. While she's immensely grateful for the help, says Ms. Fafara, all the shuttling around can be hard.

Some 40% of grandparents who live near young grandchildren are regularly providing child care, according to an August survey of 500 grandparents by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies. While research shows leaving a baby or toddler with grandparents can be good for them, the trend isn't without its costs. Although Mayra Montano, of Los Angeles, is happy to care for her daughter's three children, her husband was recently laid off and she needs to look for a job herself now. "I'm getting sick from all the stress," she says.

Job hunting without child care can be tough. After losing his job in an aluminum plant last week, Kevin Eaton of Morehouse, Mo., withdrew his 4-year-old daughter from preschool and is doing his best to care for her, preparing meals and keeping her at home during a cold snap. But he already missed out on one job opening after other applicants showed up at the plant to apply in person, he says. Juggling bills, child care and a job hunt, Mr. Eaton -- whose wife works full-time -- describes his state of mind as "confusion."

Other parents are giving up family time. Devorah Hicks, a Hatboro, Pa., teacher, says her husband, a supervisor for an airline, chose to work 10-hour shifts through the weekend so they could cut their toddler's child-care time to two days a week from three. While this is helping save money in case of a layoff, "it's hard not having a full day" together, she says.

All this tends to be hardest on the parents. There's little evidence that changing child care, in and of itself, hurts children, says James Griffin, a deputy chief at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. An institute study of 1,100 children found stability of child care had little predictive impact on development.

Experts cite just three "don'ts." First, try to avoid taking preschoolers out of group care entirely, says Deborah Lowe Vandell, chairwoman of the education department at the University of California, Irvine. Some preschool experience aids development starting around age 2½.

Second, avoid placing a child with someone who isn't warm, caring or responsive, says Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute; that bond with the caregiver matters most.

Finally, parents should guard against their stress spilling over onto children. "Think of them as listening and reading, if not your words, then your feelings," Ms. Galinsky says. Transitions can be positive, if you think of them "as teaching your children to venture out" and learn new skills.

Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com

Child Care Research - More complicated than you think

Anybody who has ever done research on how working mothers find and select child care will undoubtedly tell you that it’s complicated. Each mother brings a unique child, a particular set of individual and family circumstances, employment constraints, and assumptions about what child care means. Furthermore, mothers’ decisions regarding child care often takes place within a mixed market of formal and informal providers, including licensed child care centers and family day care homes as well as individual care givers.

At the Census, I analyze and conduct research related to child care issues using the Survey of Income and Program Participation. The data I work with daily has been discussed most recently in The New Times and Time and further highlights the complexity of child care.

In my own work, I examine the relationship between child care decisions and mothers’ work through the use of “spatial stories”. I borrow the term “spatial stories” from scholars in geography (see Hanson and Pratt 1995) as a way to illustrate the importance of physical and social space in mothers’ ability to manage complex time and space problems in their daily routines when linking together the geographies of home, child care, and work. I will post some of this research soon.

In the meantime, check out these recent reports and data releases:

Taking pressure off families: Child-care subsidies lessen mothers' work-hour problems

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/us/29child.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2008/08/19/midwestern_moms_most_likely_to/

http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/childcare.html