Living Near Family: The Interaction of Geography and Class with Kin Support for Childrearing

• In Event: 1283 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Childhood and Adolescence

Abstract

Past research has documented the importance of kin support for childcare and daily survival in poor communities, especially as it pertains to poor, single mothers. Though basic market theory and past research suggests that middle- and upper-class families can use financial resources to buy the childcare they need, emerging studies suggest that families of all classes use kincare. This paper shows that most parents of all classes often rely on some amount of informal kincare while their children are young. Using data from in-depth qualitative interviews with a stratified, random sample of poor, working-class, and middle-class families in two large American cities, I analyze the role that extended family plays in working parents’ successful organization of childcare. I examine differences in the time, cost, and responsibilities for family care, and the importance of extended family location in parents’ decisions about residential location.

Findings show that kincare is a necessary private safety net for parents’ public work. Low-income and working-class families from the sample often rely on private networks for either all or part of their daily childcare. In the absence of these networks, families from the lower classes face obstacles in scheduling or payment of formal care. These problems can make it difficult for lower- and working-class families facing to attain or advance in paid employment. Middle-class families in our sample often pay for childcare, and this allows them to better maintain connections to good employment. However, middle-class families also rely on extended family networks for childcare, particularly for the gap times of day between when school or childcare ends and when the workday ends, or during times when work is particularly demanding. Notably, both lower- and middle-class families describe the importance of proximity to extended family in choosing residential location. Differences in the labor markets of each city, as well as the differences in childcare assistance policies of each state, seem to be related to how and when families call upon kincare for help with their children. I conclude that further research should examine the cost of the lack of an American childcare safety net on all classes.

Author

• Elizabeth Mary Talbert, Johns Hopkins University