Working Mothers, Child Care Usage and The Community Context Lynda Laughlin, Temple University

1. Working Mothers, Child Care Usage and The Community Context Lynda Laughlin, Temple University This project is funded by the Child Care Bureau of the U.S. DHHS Research Questions and Data This study uses new quantitative data from The Philadelphia Survey of Child Care and Work to examine the following questions: • How does the supply of licensed child center care slots vary across Philadelphia neighborhoods? • How does a mother’s proximity to licensed child care centers influence her child care usage? • What social and economic factors effect the types of child care mothers use while they work? • The Philadelphia Survey of Child Care and Work (Press & Fagan 2003) is a one hour, quantitative, door-to-door survey of 1,070 mothers with children under age 13 living in Philadelphia. The sub-sample for this poster includes 584 mothers with at least one child 6 or younger who is not enrolled in school. Dependent Variable: Type of Child Care • The child care arrangement the child spent the most time in was dichotomized into formal or kith and kin child care. • Formal Care (center/nursery/Head Start) – 30% • Kith & Kin (relative/friend/neighbor) – 70% Results & Discussion Proximity to Child Care Centers • The distribution of child care center slots are unevenly distributed across the city of Philadelphia (see Fig.1). The average number of child care center slots per Census tract is 114. • While the assumption may be that mothers in high poverty neighborhoods will lack access to child care centers, the opposite is true for this sub-sample of mothers. The average number of child care center slots available within a 15 to 20 minute walk (about ¼ mile) for mothers in high poverty neighborhoods is 115. While the average number of child care center slots available to mothers in low poverty areas is 73. • Although there may be a larger number of child care center slots available to mothers in high poverty areas, we know little about the quality of these facilities and if families in these areas can afford this type of care. Formal vs. Kith and Kin • There are several statistically significant differences between mothers who use formal child care compared to mothers who use kith & kin care (see Table 1). Specifically, Black mothers are more likely to use formal care, while Hispanic mothers are more likely to use kith & kin. Families with a larger household income are more likely to use formal care, while mothers with larger households are more likely to use kith & kin. Multivariate Analysis: Who is More Likely to Use Formal or Kith & Kin Child Care? • Formal Child Care: Larger household income, Black mothers, mothers who take the bus to work, child care subsidy recipients, live in a high poverty neighborhood, perceive neighborhood as less safe, and access to a greater number of child care center slots within a ¼ mile. • Kith and Kin: Larger households, mothers with less than a high school education, and mothers in areas with a larger ratio of children to adults.