Nurturing Futures: How Quality Child Care Supports Family Financial Well-Being

What is high-quality child care?

High-quality child care programs are settings in which children receive enriching experiences and engage in responsive interactions that promote their development and learning (Barnett et al., 2010). All child licensed care programs meet minimum licensing requirements in their state, which focus primarily on health and safety. High-quality programs meet standards that go beyond the minimum. Some characteristics of a high-quality program include: low adult-child ratios, qualified staff, nurturing and stimulating environments, and collaborative partnerships with families and the community (Barnett et al., 2010; National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2019).  Currently, states choose if and how they rate the quality of child care programs.

• For definitions of essential indicators of quality, check out this resource from the Family Enrichment Netwok
• To learn about your state’s quality rating system, visit Child Care Aware:
  • Click on your state, then read the section titled “Quality Rating and Improvement System.”
• To learn more about quality care, check out this Q&A from the Illinois Early Learning Project
• For tips on selecting a quality child care program for your child, see these tip sheets, also from Child Care Aware
  • The tip sheets outline what caregivers can look for, listen for, and ask about when visiting a potential child care setting, including center-based care, family child care, before/after school care, and summer/vacation care.

How does high-quality child care benefit children’s development?

High-quality child care can benefit children’s developmental skills across a variety of domains, including cognitive, physical, language, and social-emotional (Barnett, 2010; Cole et al., 2023). It also helps children develop peer relationships and prepares them with academic readiness skills, such as recognizing numbers and letters and following directions (Cole et al., 2023; Horm et al., 2022). High quality child care can have both positive short-term effects (e.g., increased language skills, friendship skills) and long-term effects (e.g., higher scores on achievement tests in primary grades, higher high school graduation rates; Horm et al., 2022). The benefits are greater for children who receive high-quality care earlier, such as in infancy or toddlerhood (Horm et al., 2022).

How does high-quality child care benefit families financially?

Families benefit when they can access affordable and quality child care programs as it allows caregivers to work, thereby helping providing financial security for their households (Cole et al., 2023). The increase in working caregivers, particularly mothers, has made child care a critical resource for many families (Cole et al., 2023). Research shows that when child care is affordable for families, it improves financial well-being, including being able to obtain food, contribute to their savings, pay their monthly bills on time, and reduce debt (Forry, 2009). Additionally, reliable and high-quality care is important for ensuring caregivers can maximize their income. With lower quality and/or unreliable care options, families often experience care coordination issues that result in caregivers having to miss work to care for their children (Cole et al., 2023), thus reducing their income.

What issues are associated with accessing high-quality child care?

While high-quality child care benefits both children and families, there are man­y challenges to accessing child care, especially high-quality care that meets families’ needs. Child care shortages are one of the issues that families face (Cole et al., 2023). In many states, such as Illinois, the number of licensed child care programs available is not enough to serve all of the families who need care (Bires et al., 2022). Another challenge is that child care is not affordable for many families. Recent data from Child Care Aware (2023) shows that the national cost of child care is 10% of the median household income for a married couple and 32% of the median household income for a single parent. This means that for both dual and single parent homes, the median cost is higher than the federal standard for affordable child care, which is set at 7% (Administration for Children and Families, 2016).

For many families, especially those living at or below the poverty line, quality is not a factor they have the luxury to consider when choosing a child care program, as the cost of high-quality programs is higher than other care options (Cole et al., 2023).  Additionally, certain families face more challenges with accessing child care, including families living in poverty, those who have been racially and linguistically marginalized, families who need care outside of typical working hours, and families of children with disabilities (Bires et al., 2022; Cole et al., 2023). In short, child care programs are not equipped to support the unique needs of families with diverse backgrounds and needs.

What are the current priorities for high-quality child care?

The most recent State of Babies Yearbook identifies child care as an urgent priority (Cole et al., 2023). They recommend policies focused on five areas:

1. Sustaining child care in the short term- Additional funding is needed to stabilize the child care crisis and address workforce shortages. This would allow more families to be served, reduce the cost of child care for families, and offer more support to child care professionals.
2. Enacting a comprehensive child care program- High-quality child care should be accessible to all families, as it contributes to the public good. Comprehensive child care would mean that all families can access and afford child care.
3. Investing in and elevating infant-toddler educators- Infant-toddler educators lay the foundation for early learning, yet, they are under compensated and undervalued. Investing in this group of educators means providing higher compensation, advanced education and training, and better work environments, as well as ensuring that recruitment and retainion efforts are available.
4. Fully finding Early Head Start- Early Head Start is an effective program that provides critical supports to families who have additional stressors, including child care, family education, and resource procurement. Fully funding the program would allow more families to be served, especially those who are most at-risk for not accessing care.
5. Funding state and federal early intervention services- Expanding funding for early intervention services (birth-3 children with disabilities and their families) would help address the developmental needs of infants and toddlers and can help promote the inclusion of young children with disabilities in child care settings.

To stay up to date on child care news and policies and find opportunities to advocate, check out these resources:

• Child Care Aware Blog
• State of Babies Take Action Resources
• First Five Years Fund News and Resources

References

Administration for Children and Famililes, 45 CFR Part 98 (2016).

Barnett, W. S. & Frede, E. (2010). The promise of preschool: Why we need early education for all. American Education, 34(1), 21-29.

Bires, C., Farrar, I., Garcia, C., & Soto, V. (2022). Infant & toddler child care roadmap. Start early.

Child Care Aware of America. (2023). Child care at a standstill: Price and landscape analysis 2023.

Cole, P., Trexberg, K., & Schaffner, M. (2023). State of babies yearbook 2023. Zero To Three.

Forry, N.D. (2009). The impact of child care subsidies on low-income single parents: An examination of child care expenditures and family finances. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 30, 43-54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-008-9135-6

Frech, A. & Damaske, S. (2012). The relationships between mothers’ work pathways and physical and mental health. Social Contexts and Women’s Health, 54(4), 396- 412.

Horm, D. M., Jeon, S., Clavijo, M. V., & Acton, M. (2022). Kindergarten through grade 3 outcomes associated with participation in high-quality early care and education: A RCT follow-up study. Education Sciences, 12(12), 908.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2019). Defining and recognizing high-quality early learning programs: NAEYC’s 10 accreditation standards. Teaching Young Children, 13(1), 1- 5.

Image Credit: Pexels.com, CC0