America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2009
Child Care
Many children spend time with a child care provider other than their parents. This indicator presents two aspects of early childhood child care usage: a historical trend of the primary child care provider used by employed mothers for their young children and overall use of different providers regardless of parents' work status.18
Indicator FAM3.A: Primary child care arrangements for children ages 0–4 with employed mothers, selected years 1985–2005 and summer 200619
a SIPP child care data collected in 2006 cannot be compared directly with SIPP child care data from previous years due to seasonality differences such as preschool closings, seasonal variations in school activities, and availability of child care arrangements. The 2006 child care data were collected during summer months, whereas previous survey years typically collected data during spring or fall months.
NOTE: The primary arrangement is the arrangement used for the most number of hours per week while the mother worked.
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation.
- FAM3.A provides information about primary child care arrangements for preschoolers with employed mothers for selected years and for the summer months of 2006, thus providing a unique opportunity to examine summer child care patterns. Summer child care arrangements for preschoolers follow a similar pattern seen in non-summer months in that relatives play a primary role. Specifically, during the summer months of 2006, 32 percent of children ages 0–4 with employed mothers were primarily cared for by a relative: their father, grandparent, sibling, other relative, or mother while she worked. Sixteen percent spent time in a center-based arrangement (day care, nursery school, preschool, or Head Start). Ten percent were primarily cared for by a nonrelative in a home-based environment such as a family day care provider, nanny, babysitter, or au pair.
- Among children in families in poverty during the summer months of 2006, 12 percent were in center-based care as their primary arrangement, while 5 percent were with other relatives. Comparatively, a larger percentage of children in families at or above the poverty line were in center-based care (16 percent), and a smaller percentage were cared for by other relatives (4 percent).
Indicator FAM3.B: Percentage of children ages 0–6 not yet in kindergarten by type of care arrangement and poverty status, 2005
NOTE: Respondents indicated whether children had weekly nonparental care arrangements, regardless of the amount of time spent in such care. Some children participated in more than one type of arrangement, so the sum of all arrangement types exceeds the total percentage in nonparental care. Center-based programs included day care centers, prekindergartens, nursery schools, Head Start programs, and other early childhood education programs. Relative and nonrelative care could have taken place in either the child's own home or another home.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Household Education Surveys Program.
School-age children may spend their weekday, nonschool time in child care arrangements, and also may engage in a variety of enrichment activities such as sports, arts, clubs, academic activities, religious activities, and community service. In addition, some children care for themselves without adult supervision for some time during the week. This measure presents the most recent data available on how grade-school-age children spend their out-of-school time.
Indicator FAM3.C: Percentage of children in kindergarten through 8th grade by weekday care and activities, 2005
NOTE: Some children participate in more than one type of care arrangement or activity. For self care, parents reported that their child is responsible for himself/herself before or after school on a regular basis. Parents reported on organized before- or after-school activities that are undertaken by their child on a regular basis.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Household Education Surveys Program.
- In 2005, 61 percent of children ages 0–6 who were not yet in kindergarten (about 12 million children) received some form of child care on a regular basis from persons other than their parents. This is about the same proportion of children in child care as in 1995.
- Patterns of child care vary by the poverty status of the child's family. In 2005, children ages 0–6 in families with incomes at least twice the poverty level were more likely than children in families with incomes below the poverty level and children in families with incomes 100–199 percent of the poverty level to be in nonparental care (68 percent versus 51 and 53 percent, respectively). In addition, children in families with incomes at least twice the poverty level were more likely than children in families with lower incomes to be in home care by a nonrelative or in center-based programs such as nursery schools and other early childhood education programs.
- In 2005, 47 percent of children in kindergarten through 3rd grade and 53 percent of those in 4th through 8th grade received some nonparental child care.
- In 2005, parents reported that older children were more likely to care for themselves before or after school than were younger children: 3 percent of children in kindergarten through 3rd grade and 22 percent of children in 4th through 8th grade cared for themselves regularly either before or after school.
- Children in the higher grades were more likely to engage in some kind of organized before- or after-school activity than were children in the lower grades. Children from families in poverty were less likely than those in families at or above poverty to participate in activities. Children in kindergarten through 8th grade were more likely to participate in sports than in any other activity.
FAM3.A HTML Table, FAM3.B HTML Table, FAM3.C HTML Table
18 To provide a comprehensive picture of the child care arrangements parents use to care for their preschoolers, this indicator draws on the strengths of two different Federal data sets—the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Using NHES (FAM3.B) data, the percentage of children in each type of arrangement is shown, to provide total usage rates. Because some children are cared for by more than one type of provider, the numerator is the number of children in the particular arrangement and the denominator is all children. Using SIPP (FAM3.A) data, the historical trend of the primary child care provider is shown because there is an interest in the care arrangement that is used by employed mothers for the greatest number of hours each week. In this case, the numerator is the number of children of employed mothers who spend the greatest number of hours in the particular arrangement each week and the denominator is all children of employed mothers.
19 Center-based care includes day care centers, nursery schools, preschools and Head Start programs. Home-based care or other nonrelative care includes family day care providers, babysitters, nannies, friends, neighbors, and other nonrelatives providing care in either the child's or provider's home. Other relatives include siblings and other relatives. Mother care includes care by the mother while she worked. To see trends in individual child care arrangement types refer to Overturf Johnson, J. (2005). Who's minding the kids? Child care arrangements: Winter 2002. Current Population Reports, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 70–101.