Tag Archives: childcare

Food insecurity and child care for low-income families

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So far, we’ve written several blogs about how characteristics of children’s parents can influence food security. As the authors of our Fall 2014 research report remind us, however, three-quarters of children spend some portion of their preschool years in the care of people other than their parents, so we need to look at how child-care arrangements may also influence food insecurity among children. This is especially important given that children in center-based care may receive a majority of their nutritional needs at their center rather than in the home.

The research report highlights a study by Heflin, Arteaga, and Gable that compared child care by parents to child care by someone else, among low-income families. Specifically, they examined five types of child-care arrangements: child-care by parents, by a relative, by someone unrelated to the child in a home care setting, in a child-care center, and in Head Start. They found that compared with children cared for exclusively by their parents, low-income preschoolers attending a child-care center had lower levels of both food insecurity in general and of very low food security. Children cared for by a relative were less likely to experience food insecurity in general but equally likely to experience very low food security and children cared for by an unrelated adult were more likely to experience very low food security.

The finding that low-income preschoolers attending child-care centers had lower levels of food insecurity and very low food security compared to those cared for by their parents has several theoretical explanations. First, parents of these children may be better able to work while their children attend the center, which increases household income. Second, these children may receive some of their nutritional needs directly through the child-care center.

While school-based nutrition programs have proven to help alleviate food insecurity for some children, this research reminds us that preschool children must also be considered in policy discussions. Improving access to child-care services for low-income parents of preschool children may improve food security within this age group.

High-Quality Childcare: Good for Kids, Good for Moms

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“Balancing the competing needs of work and family life is a challenge for most households, but the difficulties may be greatest for households with young children, defined here as newborns through age five. Parents in many of these families struggle to find sufficient time both to fulfill work responsibilities and provide the intensive care that young children require.” The Future of Children: Work and Family

The first difficult and very important work and family decision a parent makes is who will care for the child while the parent is working. Choosing childcare is one of the largest stressors that a parent faces when returning to work.

A new study in the journal Child Development finds that high-quality early child care can have a significant impact on children’s wellbeing, and is important for mothers as well. High-quality child care is not about drilling children in educational facts, but more about low student to teacher ratio, age appropriate books and toys, and teachers who are attentive to the children and their developmental needs.

“Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin looked at data from more than 1,300 children whose care settings were evaluated at various intervals from the time they were a month old until they turned 4 ½. Their mothers were interviewed too. Those moms whose kids were cared for early on in “high-quality non-parental care” settings–either in day care centers or in others’ homes–were more likely than mothers who cared for their kids themselves or sent them to low-quality day care to be involved in their children’s schools starting in kindergarten… Robert Crosnoe, a professor of sociology in the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin who led the study, notes that “children make a smoother transition to school when families and schools are strongly connected.”

(Time Healthland- February 15, 2012)

As noted in the Future of Children’s Work and Family volume, formal (center- or school-based) early childhood education and care received immediately before kindergarten appears to promote school readiness. Children, particularly those who are disadvantaged, who attend prekindergarten in the year before formal schooling begin that formal schooling with better math and reading skills, although some of these gains may be transitory or offset by later compensatory education that targets less-prepared children. Head Start participation is also associated with better dental care and overall health as well as with reductions in obesity.

Despite these positive findings, however, the volume is careful to note that, when taken together, research findings related to early childhood care and education are ambiguous, due in part to the high variability in services provided and the difficulty of determining which outcomes are of key interest (for example, cognitive test scores at school entry versus long-term educational and developmental outcomes.)

The one finding that remains certain from the current research base is that quality of care matters. High-quality care mitigates any negative consequences of early childhood care and education and enhances its benefits.

For more on this issue, go to the Future of Children Work and Family chapter on “Policies to Assist Parents with Young Children.”