Poster #218 - Do Parents Receiving Subsidies Find and Choose Child Care Similarly to Other Low-Income Parents?

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Social Policy

Integrative Statement

The purpose of this study was to explore whether child care decision making – specifically, search actions and choices – amongst parents receiving child care subsidies differed from that of other parents with low incomes. Previous researchers have suggested that parents receiving subsidies are not necessarily representative of all families with low incomes. For example, subsidy recipients tend to be somewhat more financially advantaged, and participation in the subsidy program is more common in urban areas than rural areas (e.g., Davis, Grobe, & Weber, 2010; Johnson, Martin, & Brooks-Gunn, 2011). Fewer studies have examined the child care decision making of subsidy recipients.
Methods
A subsample of 1,120 parents with low incomes was drawn from the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE, 2013). Participants had searched for child care for a child under the age of six who had not yet begun kindergarten. Parents were asked questions about child care providers considered in the search, search actions, information sought about providers, and the result of the search. Subsidy receipt was determined through a series of items about how parents paid for their child care. Chi-square tests of association were used to determine whether there were differences in child care decision making between parents receiving subsidies and other parents with low incomes.
Research Findings
For most of the child care search action variables, there were no significant differences between the parents receiving subsidies and the other parents with low incomes in the sample. The two groups were equally likely to consider center-based care and home-based providers with whom they did not have a prior relationship, although parents receiving subsidies were less likely to consider a previously known home-based provider.
Parents receiving subsidies were more likely to consult with their social networks. Otherwise, the two groups showed no differences in how they searched for care and the kinds of information they sought from providers. The subsidy group was not more likely to report using formal information sources, such as child care resource and referral agencies.
There were also few differences between the two groups regarding child care choices. Parents receiving subsidies were more likely to report a change in provider and to choose center-based care, and were less likely to choose a known home-based provider. These findings are in line with prior research linking subsidy receipt and use of centers (e.g., Ertas & Shields, 2012; Rothenberg, Goldhagen, Harbin, & Forry, 2013) and formal child care arrangements in general (Markowitz, Ryan, & Johnson, 2014). The two groups cited similar reasons for choosing their providers.
Previous research has found significant differences between families receiving subsidies and other families with low incomes. However, the results of this study suggest that the child care decision making processes of the two groups are largely similar. Findings will be discussed with respect to implications for CCDF subsidy and consumer education policy.

Authors

• Katie Watts, University of Maryland
  Presenting Author

• Elisa L. Klein, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author