Primary Child Care Arrangements of Employed Parents: Findings from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families

An Urban InstituteProgram to AssessChanging Social PoliciesOccasional Paper Number 59Assessingthe NewFederalismPrimary Child CareArrangements ofEmployed Parents:Findings from the 1999 National Surveyof America’sFamiliesFreya L. SonensteinGary J. GatesStefanie SchmidtNatalya BolshunThe Urban InstitutePrimary Child CareArrangements ofEmployed Parents:Findings from the 1999 National Surveyof America’sFamilies Primary Child CareArrangements ofEmployed Parents:Findings from the1999 NationalSurvey of America’sFamiliesFreya L. SonensteinGary J. GatesStefanie SchmidtNatalya BolshunThe Urban InstituteOccasional Paper Number 59An Urban Institute Program to Assess Changing Social PoliciesThe Urban Institute2100 M Street, N.W.Washington, DC 20037Phone: 202.833.7200Fax: 202.429.0687E-Mail: paffairs@ui.urban.orghttp://www.urban.orgAssessingthe NewFederalism Copyright © May 2002. The Urban Institute. All rights reserved. Except for short quotes, no part ofthis book may be reproduced in any form or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechan-ical, including photocopying, recording, or by information storage or retrieval system, without writtenpermission from the Urban Institute.This paper is part of the Urban Institute’s Assessing the New Federalismproject, a multiyear project tomonitor and assess the devolution of social programs from the federal to the state and local levels. AlanWeil is the project director. The project analyzes changes in income support, social services, and healthprograms. In collaboration with Child Trends, the project studies child and family well-being.This paper has received direct funding from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. TheAssessing the New Federalismproject is supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the W. K. Kel-logg Foundation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation,The Ford Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Founda-tion, The McKnight Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, the Stuart Foundation, the WeingartFoundation, The Fund for New Jersey, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Joyce Founda-tion, and The Rockefeller Foundation.The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of pub-lic consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to theUrban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.The authors would like to thank Sarah Adelman and Jason Ost for their assistance in preparing thispaper. In addition, Gina Adams, Sandra Hofferth, Karen Tvedt, and Joan Lombardi provided very help-ful comments on earlier versions of this paper. About the SeriesAssessing the New Federalismis a multiyear Urban Institute projectdesigned to analyze the devolution of responsibility for social pro-grams from the federal government to the states, focusing primarilyon health care, income security, employment and training programs,and social services. Researchers monitor program changes and fiscal develop-ments. In collaboration with Child Trends, the project studies changes in familywell-being. The project aims to provide timely, nonpartisan information toinform public debate and to help state and local decisionmakers carry out theirnew responsibilities more effectively.Key components of the project include a household survey, studies of policies in13 states, and a database with information on all states and the District ofColumbia, available at the Urban Institute’s web site (http://www.urban.org).This paper is one in a series of occasional papers analyzing information fromthese and other sources. ContentsIntroduction 1 The National Survey of America’s Families 2Child Care Arrangements by Age 3Preschool Children 3Five-Year-Olds 3School-Age Children 5Child Care Arrangements by Family Structure and Family Income 5Preschool Child Care Arrangements 5School-Age Child Care Arrangements 6Child Care Arrangements by State 8Changes in Child Care Arrangements between 1997 and 1999 10Preschool Children Age 0 through 4 10School-Age Children Age 6 through 12 11Conclusions 12Notes 14References 16Appendix—Tables 17About the Authors 21 PRIMARY CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENTS OF EMPLOYED PARENTSTHE URBANINSTITUTE1Primary Child Care Arrangements ofEmployed Parents: Findings fromthe 1999 National Survey ofAmerica’s FamiliesIntroductionThe majority of all children in American families now regularly spend timeunder the care of someone other than their parents.1The type of arrange-ment used, however, can vary depending on family income, household com-position, and geographic location. Over time, the proportion of children inchild care has grown and the types of arrangements have shifted.2This occa-sional paper presents new findings from the 1