Searching and Finding Child Care to Meet Nontraditional Hour Care Needs and Preferences

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Labor market trends indicate an increase in nontraditional hours (NTH) and precarious work schedules over the last 30 years are concentrated among low-income, minoritized, and single parents with caregiving responsibilities (Walther & Pilarz, 2025; Henly et al., 22021).  Research shows these parents either forego regular child care arrangements or rely on unlicensed home-based providers during working hours (Kwon, Henly, & Lee, 2026). Documenting the extent of NTH child care need has been challenging given data limitations, especially few data sets that include all of the following: 1) complete information on NTH and precarious work schedules, 2) parental preferences for care by timing, 3) parental search strategies during NTH, and 4) actual child care arrangements. Increasingly, data have become available to study some of these relationships, but there remains limited ability to test the complex dynamics between them. 

Another gap in existing knowledge concerns how to effectively expand the supply of NTH child care assuming concerns about limited supply are warranted. The 2024 Child Care Development Fund Final Rule encouraged states to use differential subsidy rates to encourage providers to provide care during NTH (Wong, 2026), and the Final Rule also issued broader guidance for states to experiment with supply-side contracts as a general strategy to grow supply to meet specific child care gaps. Some states, like Georgia and Illinois, have also experimented with pilot programs to increase the supply of NTH hour child care.

The current panel includes three papers that address three unique gaps in our understanding of child care during NTH. The first paper estimates national demand for NTH child care over a ten-year period using American Community Survey data, following prior approaches (Henly & Adams, 2018) with modifications to more closely mirror state policy definitions. The data confirm the relatively high prevalence of NTH care, especially among low-income families. The second paper analyzes a survey with Illinois parents that includes hypothetical vignettes and conventional survey questions to understand parental search strategies, care priorities, and actual arrangements and how they vary depending on distinct times of days and weekend needs. This paper embeds a conjoint study and an experiment into the survey and will report both experimental and nonexperimental findings. The third paper extends the panel focus to the realm of intervention. Specifically, the state of Georgia funded an effort to expand supply during NTH through a unique pilot program. This presentation draws from diverse data sources (administrative data, surveys, interviews, and focus groups) that tap perceptions and behaviors of both providers and parents in response to the pilot program and identifies strengths and challenges of the program. The pilot confirmed both the need and value of NTH programs but uncovered significant challenges to accessing the care among families. A discussant who is an expert on the child care needs of NTH working parents will discuss the results of all three papers and consider policy implications to improve child care access during NTH and precarious hours.

Policy Area

• Family and Child Policy

Chair

• Julia Henly, The University of Chicago

Discussant

• Anna Walther, Arizona State University

Organizer

• Julia Henly, The University of Chicago

Individual Presentations

• Parental Care Preferences, Search Strategies, and Child Care Arrangements in the Context of Nonstandard Work - Presenting Author: Suh Kyung Lee, The University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Julia Henly, The University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Rose Geoghegan, The University of Chicago

• Expanding Access to Nontraditional-Hour Child Care: Lessons from Georgia’s EXPAND Grant Program - Presenting Author: Shayna Funke, Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Jill Stelynn Taylor, Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning

• Trends in the national demand for non-traditional hour care (by state) using ACS data - Presenting Author: Colleen E. Graber, Public Policy Associates