Caring for Children of Color: The Child Care Patterns of White, Black and Hispanic Children

Caring for Children of ColorThe Child Care Patternsof White, Black, andHispanic Children under 5Jeffrey CapizzanoTeaching Strategies, Inc.Gina AdamsJason OstThe Urban InstituteAn Urban InstituteProgram to AssessChanging Social PoliciesOccasional Paper Number 72Assessingthe NewFederalismCaring forChildren of ColorThe Child Care Patternsof White, Black, andHispanic Childrenunder 5Jeffrey CapizzanoTeaching Strategies, Inc.Gina AdamsJason OstThe Urban Institute Caring forChildren of ColorThe Child Care Patternsof White, Black, andHispanic Childrenunder 5Jeffrey CapizzanoTeaching Strategies, Inc.Gina AdamsJason OstThe Urban InstituteOccasional Paper Number 72The Urban Institute2100 M Street, NWWashington, DC 20037Phone:202.833.7200Fax: 202.467.5775http://www.urban.orgAssessingthe NewFederalismAn Urban InstituteProgram to AssessChanging Social Policies Copyright © February 2006. The Urban Institute. All rights reserved. Except for short quotes, no part of this paper maybe reproduced in any form or used in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, record-ing, or by information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the Urban Institute.This paper is part of the Urban Institute’s Assessing the New Federalismproject, a multiyear effort to monitor and assessthe devolution of social programs from the federal to the state and local levels. Olivia Golden is the project director. Theproject analyzes changes in income support, social services, and health programs. In collaboration with Child Trends, theproject studies child and family well-being.The Assessing the New Federalismproject is currently supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Robert WoodJohnson Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and TheFord Foundation.The authors thank Leo Estrada, Joan Lombardi, Olivia Golden, Ken Finegold, Shelley Waters-Boots, Marta Rosa, MatthewStagner, Andrea Young, Stephanie Curenton, and Cheryl Vincent for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. Theviews expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. ContentsExecutive SummaryviiExamining the Child Care Patterns of White, Black, and Hispanic Children2Data and Methods3Understanding the Data4Demographic and Socioeconomic Differences among White, Black, and Hispanic Families5Child Care Patterns of White, Black, and Hispanic Children under 5 in Families WhereEach Resident Parent Works7Patterns by Age of the Child9Do the Age Patterns Hold for White, Black, and Hispanic Children Separately?10Do the Differences among White, Black, and Hispanic Children Persist When Younger and Older Children Are Examined Separately?10Patterns by Family Structure12Do the Family Structure Patterns Hold for White, Black, and Hispanic Children Separately?12Do the Differences among White, Black, and Hispanic Children Persist When Single- and Two-Parent Families Are Examined Separately?13Patterns by Family Income14Children under 5 by Income15Children under 5 by Income and Age17 CARING FOR CHILDREN OF COLOR: THE CHILD CARE PATTERNS OF WHITE, BLACK, AND HISPANIC CHILDREN UNDER 5Patterns by Primary Caretaker’s Education Level17Children under 5 by Primary Caretaker’s Education Level18Children under 5 by Primary Caretaker’s Education Level and Income20Patterns by Primary Caretaker’s Work Schedule21Do the Work Schedule Patterns Hold for White, Black, and Hispanic Children Separately?21Do the Differences among White, Black, and Hispanic Children Persist When Different Primary Caretaker Work Schedules Are Examined Separately?22Patterns by Parental Availability23Do the Parental Availability Patterns Hold for White, Black, and Hispanic ChildrenSeparately?24Do the Differences among White, Black, and Hispanic Children Persist When Parental Availability Categories Are Examined Separately?26Patterns by the Presence of Nonparental Relatives in the Household27Does the Presence of a Relative in the Household Increase the Likelihood of Relative Care among White, Black, and Hispanic Children Separately?27Do the Differences among White, Black, and Hispanic Children Persist When Relative Categories Are Examined Separately?27Patterns by Region29Does the Regional Pattern Hold for White, Black, and Hispanic Children Separately?29Do the Differences among White, Black, and Hispanic Children Persist When DifferentRegions Are Examined Separately?30Summary and Policy Implications31Finding 1: A large majority of white, black, and Hispanic children under 5 in familieswhere each parent present in the family works is in some form of nonparental child care.31Finding 2: While children from each racial and ethnic group are found in each form of nonparental child care, white, black, and Hispanic children under 5 diffe