America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007

Child Care

Many children spend time with a child care provider other than their parents. This measure presents two aspects of early childhood child care usage: overall use of different provider types regardless of parents' work status and a historical trend of the primary child care provider used by employed mothers for their young children.¹⁹

Indicator FAM3.A: Percentage of children ages 0–6 not yet in kindergarten by type of care arrangement, 2005

• 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 in families with incomes at least twice the poverty level were more likely than children in families with income below the poverty level, and children in families with income between the poverty level and 200 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 income to be in home care by a nonrelative or in center-based programs such as nursery schools and other early childhood education programs.

Indicator FAM3.B: Primary child care arrangements for children ages 0–4 with employed mothers, selected years 1985-2005 ²⁰

School-age children may spend their weekday, nonschool time in child care arrangements, but also may engage in a variety of enrichment activities such as sports, arts, clubs, academic activities, community service, and religious activities. Some children also spend time caring for themselves without adult supervision. This measure presents the most recent data available on how grade-school-age children spend their out-of-school time.

• In 2005, 48 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. This is not statistically different from the percentages in 1999 and 2002. Twenty-four percent spent the most amount of time in a center-based arrangement (day care, nursery school, preschool, or Head Start). Sixteen 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, 18 percent were in center-based care as their primary arrangement, while 9 percent were with other relatives. Comparatively, a larger percentage of children in families at or above the poverty line were in center-based care (25 percent), and a smaller percentage were cared for by other relatives (6 percent).

Indicator FAM3.C: Percentage of children in kindergarten through 8th-grade by weekday care and activities, 2005

• In 2005, 47 percent of children in kindergarten through 3rd-grade and 53 percent of those in grades 4 through 8 received some nonparental child care.
• In 2005, parents reported that older children were more likely to care for themselves before or after school than 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 afterschool 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.

 FAM3A HTML Table, FAM3B HTML Table, FAM3C HTML Table

 FAM3A Excel Table, FAM3B Excel Table, FAM3C Excel Table