Monday, May 14, 2007
New Report Reviews Recent Family Child Care Research
May 2007
What does the research tell us about family child care?
Providers have a flexible but sometimes challenging work environment. Most work long hours for low pay. Providers typically contribute about a quarter to a third of total household income, although it may constitute the entire household income for unmarried providers. Providers leave the field for "both personal reasons (e.g., own children aging out of child care, unfulfilled need for adult contact, problems with parent) and economic factors (e.g., income instability, lack of affordable liability and health insurance and retirement benefits)."
Despite these problems, most providers report being satisfied with their work, citing advantages such as working for oneself, not having to worry about typical job requirements, and staying home with one's own children. Family child care providers reported fewer depressive symptoms than center-based or family, friend, or neighbor caregivers.
"Most observational studies to date suggest that much of family child care is of 'adequate' quality...The quality of care is not associated with the provider's age or years of experience, but is positively correlated with the training and education the provider has received."
Parents using family child care are more likely to prefer this care for infants and toddlers, but prefer preschools and centers for older children. These parents also tend to be single, female-headed households. Parents who prefer family child care do so because they believe that their children receive more individual attention than in center-based care.
May 2007
What does the research tell us about family child care?
- About one quarter of children spend approximately 30 hours per week in family child care
- There are about 300,000 regulated family child care providers in the country
- 95 percent of providers are female
- 90 percent of providers are parents themselves
- 33 percent of providers care for their own children in addition to unrelated children
- Turnover of providers ranges from 15-25% per year
- The portion of children in regulated family child care has declined from 22 percent in 1977 to 10 percent in 2002
Providers have a flexible but sometimes challenging work environment. Most work long hours for low pay. Providers typically contribute about a quarter to a third of total household income, although it may constitute the entire household income for unmarried providers. Providers leave the field for "both personal reasons (e.g., own children aging out of child care, unfulfilled need for adult contact, problems with parent) and economic factors (e.g., income instability, lack of affordable liability and health insurance and retirement benefits)."
Despite these problems, most providers report being satisfied with their work, citing advantages such as working for oneself, not having to worry about typical job requirements, and staying home with one's own children. Family child care providers reported fewer depressive symptoms than center-based or family, friend, or neighbor caregivers.
"Most observational studies to date suggest that much of family child care is of 'adequate' quality...The quality of care is not associated with the provider's age or years of experience, but is positively correlated with the training and education the provider has received."
Parents using family child care are more likely to prefer this care for infants and toddlers, but prefer preschools and centers for older children. These parents also tend to be single, female-headed households. Parents who prefer family child care do so because they believe that their children receive more individual attention than in center-based care.
// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 5:24 PM 
