Family child care in the United States

A review of research studies examining regulated family child care in the United States, including survey, observation, demonstration, and evaluation researc

Family child care (FCC) research: Table of methods and findings

A table summarizing the research questions, groups studied, methods, validity and reliability issues, and findings of studies discussed in an accompanying literature review examining regulated family child care in the United States, including survey, observation, demonstration, and evaluation researc

Economic Instability, Food Insecurity, and Child Health in the Wake of the Great Recession

Although there is a wealth of research on the relationship between income level and employment status and child well-being, the relationship between economic instability and health during early childhood is understudied. We examine the associations between the incidence, accumulation, and timing of intrayear employment and income instability with household and child food insecurity and child health using a nationally representative sample of households. The sample includes children age 3–5 from households in the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (N = 5,056). We find that young children’s households experience high levels of both income and employment instability. Both the incidence and the accumulation of instability predict poorer child outcomes, more recent instability is more strongly associated with child outcomes, and these relations are stronger for children with less educated parents. Employment and income changes have separate, unique associations with each outcome and operate in somewhat different ways

Food Insecurity Across the First Five Years: Triggers of Onset and Exit

Very low food security among young children is associated with developmental deficiencies. However, little is known about the factors that predict entry into or exit from very low food security during early childhood. This study seeks to: (1) Understand the triggers that explain movements into or out of very low food security among children from birth to age five; (2) Examine the first aim using different definitions of food insecurity. The analysis relies on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a longitudinal, nationally representative dataset of approximately 10,700 children, to estimate linear probability models. Results suggest that residential moves and declines in maternal or child health are associated with transitioning into food insecurity, whereas increases in the number of adults in the household are associated with exits from food insecurity. Changes in income and maternal depression are associated with both entrances and exits. These findings are robust to different definitions of food insecurity and model specifications. Findings can help nutrition assistance programs target parents and their children for assistance and information on coping strategies when they are most at risk of experiencing food insecurity

Family Child Care in the United States

This research brief summarizes the literature review entitled Child Care in the United States written by Taryn W. Morrissey of the Department of Human Development, Cornell University, for Research Connections, and addresses the following questions: What is family child care? What do we know about family child care providers? What do we know about who uses family child care? What do we know about the quality of family child care? This brief will also describe forthcoming studies on family child care and future areas of research in family child care

Using Natural Experiments to Identify the Effects of SNAP on Child and Adult Health

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; formerly known as food stamps) can have important impacts that extend beyond its intended aims to improve food security and nutrition, particularly for health and health care use. This project examined the impact of SNAP receipt and benefit level on the health of adults and children using two natural experiments to address selection bias: 1) state policy variation in SNAP in an instrumental variables (IV) analysis; and, 2) the temporary expansion of SNAP benefits and eligibility provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in a difference-in-difference (DD) approach. We used restricted data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) from 2008 to 2014, restricting our sample to persons in SNAP-eligible and low-income SNAP-ineligible households. The IV analysis suggests that SNAP receipt is associated with improved health and reductions in foregone medical care due to affordability among adults and children. However, we find little evidence that ARRA’s temporary benefit increase led to any changes in health or health care use. Whereas SNAP receipt may improve health and health care use for populations close to the eligibility threshold (and thus induced to participate by some policies), the relatively small increase and reduction in SNAP benefits may not have been substantial enough to change health outcomes

Public Prekindergarten Expansion and Children’s School Readiness: Examining Effects of the Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus Program on Early Educational Experiences and Early Literacy Skills

While previous research documents the direct benefits of preschool for those who attend, less is known about how the availability of public preschool indirectly affects the early educational experiences, preschool attendance patterns, and school readiness measures in a population of children more broadly. This study uses administrative data from Virginia of first-time kindergarteners from 2007 to 2019 (about 1,000,000 students) to better understand associations between public preschool availability, patterns of prekindergarten participation, and school readiness. We exploit discrete expansions in the Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus (VPI+) program and propensity weighted estimators to estimate public prekindergarten expansions’ effects on children’s patterns of early education attendance and literacy skills upon kindergarten entry for students in expansion districts. Findings indicate that residency in a VPI+ district increases the probability that students attend a public prekindergarten and (perhaps surprisingly) private center in the year prior to kindergarten by about 5-6 and 2-3 percentage points, respectively, while decreasing the probability of attending Head Start, unlicensed homes, or having no observed prekindergarten arrangement. Increases in hours per week in preschool settings are consistent in direction and magnitude with compositional shifts in prekindergarten setting. We also find improvements in literacy skills in the fall of kindergarten for students in a VPI+ expansion district (of about 6-7 percent of a standard deviation, and 1 percentage point decrease in the probability that students arrive below benchmark). Results demonstrate the community-wide effects of public preschool for patterns of early care and education participation and children’s outcomes in early elementary school (potentially previously unmeasured benefits), with implications for policy and research

The U.S. Child Care Subsidy Program Is Underused but Well-Positioned to Promote Racial Equity

Child care is expensive and difficult to find, especially for infants and toddlers. Compared to their higher-income peers, children from lower-income families are less likely to attend out-of-home early childhood care – which tend to be more expensive but provides more stability and is higher quality than home-based care. This contributes to disparities in school readiness and later life outcomes. This brief summarizes findings from a recently published paper examining administrative data from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Findings suggest that children are least likely to receive subsides when they are infants and toddlers despite early childhood care being the most important to development in the first three years of life

Expansions in the U.S. Child Care and Development Block Grant Improved Program Stability

Child care is necessary for most parents to work and serves as an important developmental context for children. Yet many low-income families struggle with the high cost of child care. The child care subsidy program is designed to help low-income working families pay for child care. In 2018, Congress substantially increased funding for child care through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to states, enabling them to make improvements to their child care subsidy programs. This brief summarizes the policy changes made in Virginia and describes how those changes improved child care subsidy stability and participation in that state

The U.S. Must Invest More in the Child Care Subsidy Program

Compared to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), child care subsidy programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are underused by families and children. This data slice analyzes 2019 administrative data from Virginia to examine gaps in child care subsidy receipts