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Who’s Minding the Kids in the Summer? Child Care Arrangements for Summer 2006

This study examines child care usage patterns during the summer months and its impact on parental employment. It explores the type of child care used, hours in care, and variations by social and economic characteristics.

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Who’s Minding the Kids in the Summer? Child Care Arrangements for Summer 2006

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  1. Who’s Minding the Kids in the Summer? Child Care Arrangements for Summer 2006 Lynda Laughlin - U.S. Census Bureau Joseph Rukus - Cornell University Annual Meeting of the Population Associationof America, Detroit, MI April 30 – May 2, 2009

  2. Who Minds the Kids in the Summer? • Summer can present a number of challenges to parents when trying to arrange child care as they try to bridge the gap between the school year and summer. • Little is known about the summer child care usage patterns, the number of hours in care, and the extent that mothers may rely on family members to juggle work and family responsibilities. • Understanding summer child care patterns is critical for our understanding of child well-being. Summer can be a time when parents seek additional academic assistance for their children. All the while, finding summer child care can have an impact on parental employment patterns.

  3. Who Minds the Kids in the Summer? • This poster examines child care usage for children 0 – 14 years old. We examine the type of child care used, hours in care, as well as variations in child care usage by selected social and economic characteristics. • Comparisons are made between a school month and a summer month. • The role of fathers as child care providers is also examined to determine if summer increases their role as providers.

  4. Since the 1984 panel, the Census Bureau has collected information on child care usage through special supplements to SIPP (called topical modules). The 8th Wave of the 2004 SIPP provides a unique opportunity to compare school year and summer child care arrangements. The universe is limited to children ages 0 to 14 with a employed mother. Usually child care data is collected in the spring or fall. In the 2004 panel, data was collected between May and August providing a unique opportunity to examine summer child care activities. We compare child care usage between May (a school month) and July (a summer month) to highlight differences in school year and summer child care arrangements. Survey of Income and Program Participation and Child Care (SIPP)

  5. Child Care Arrangements Defined • Child care arrangements are broadly classified into the following categories: • Relative care (mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, or some other relatives) • Organized facilities (day care or child care centers, nursery school, preschools, and Head Start) • Activities (sports, lessons, clubs, after-and-before school program) • School (Kindergarten/grade school) • Self care (child cares for him or herself) • Measure for “any” use of the above arrangements

  6. Summer Care Arrangements for Preschoolers • Overall there was little variation in the selected types of child care arrangements between May and July. • Preschoolers with Black mothers were more likely to be cared for by relatives in July (39%) than in May (29%). Whereas, organized facility care fell from 29% in May to 13% in July. • Preschoolers of Hispanic mothers were more likely to be in organized care facilities in July (18% vs. 8%). • There also appears to be regional variation in care arrangements. Notably, the use of organized facilities in the Midwest decreased from May to July (28% vs. 16%).

  7. Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers with Employed Mothers: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100% because of multiple arrangements

  8. Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers with Employed Mothers by Race: May 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100% because of multiple arrangements

  9. Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers with Employed Mothers by Race: July 2006 * Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100% because of multiple arrangements * Numerator too small for comparison

  10. Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers with Employed Mothers by Region: May 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100% because of multiple arrangements

  11. Selected Child Care Arrangements of Preschoolers with Employed Mothers by Region: July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100% because of multiple arrangements

  12. Summer Care for Grade School Aged Children • Other than the steep decline in school usage (86% in May vs. 30% in July), there was minimal variation in the types of care used over the summer by grade school aged children. • Asian/PI grade school aged children were less likely to use relative care in the summer (44% in May vs. 34% in July). • Grade school aged children spend more hours per week in various types of care when summer arrives. Increases of 5 or more hours include: relative care, family day care homes, and organized facilities. • The average number of hours spent in self care increased for Hispanic children in the summer (5 hrs to 9 hrs), but decreased for Asian/PI children (8 hrs to 4 hrs). • The average number of hours per week spent in relative care increased, regardless of race/Hispanic origin, between the school year and the summer. • The average number of hours per week spent in family day care decreased between the school year and summer for children below the poverty level (15 hrs to 8 hrs), but increased for children above poverty (100-199% of poverty).

  13. Selected Child Care Arrangements of Grade School Aged Children with Employed Mothers: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100% because of multiple arrangements

  14. Selected Child Care Arrangements of Grade school Aged Children with Employed Mothers by Race: May 2006 * * Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100% because of multiple arrangements * Numerator too small for comparison

  15. Selected Child Care Arrangements of Grade school Aged Children with Employed Mothers by Race: July 2006 * Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100% because of multiple arrangements * Numerator too small for comparison

  16. Average Time Grade school Aged Children Spent in Selected Care Arrangements: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Average hours per week in specified care arrangement

  17. Average Time Grade School Aged Children Spent in Self Care by Race: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Average hours per week in specified care arrangement

  18. Average Time Grade School Aged Children Spent in Relative by Race: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Average hours per week in specified care arrangement

  19. Average Time Grade School Aged Children Spent in Family Day Care by Poverty Status: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Average hours per week in specified care arrangement

  20. What Role do Fathers Play in the Summer? • With school being out, summer provides an opportunity for fathers to increase their role as child care providers. • Several factors are related a father’s child care involvement in the summer: • Child care provided by fathers increased in the summer for preschoolers below poverty (19% to 33%), but decreased for grade school aged children below poverty (15% to 10%). • For both preschool and grade-school aged children, father provided care varied by marital status. Father care increases in the summer for divorced/separated mothers, whereas father care for never married mothers decreases. • Fathers are more likely to care for male preschoolers than female preschoolers in the summer.

  21. Percentage of Preschoolers Cared for by Fathers by Poverty Status: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100%, Limited to children with employed mothers

  22. Percentage of Grade School Aged Children Cared for by Fathers by Poverty Status: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100%, Limited to children with employed mothers

  23. Fathers Providing Care for Preschoolers by Mother’s Marital Status: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100%, Limited to children with employed mothers *Includes separated and widowed

  24. Fathers Providing Care for Grade School Aged Children by Mother’s Marital Status: May and July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100%, Limited to children with employed mothers *Included separated and widowed

  25. Fathers Providing Care for Preschoolers by Child’s Gender: May & July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100%, Limited to children with employed mothers

  26. Fathers Providing Care for Preschoolers by Race/Hispanic Origin: May 2006 & July 2006 Source: SIPP 2004 Wave 8 Note: Does not add up to 100%, Limited to children with employed mothers

  27. Summary of Findings • Findings suggest that there is little seasonal variation in the types of child care used by preschoolers and grade school aged children. • However, children spend more hours in similar child care arrangements when summer arrives. This is especially true for grade school aged children. • Father increased their summer child care roles for preschoolers below poverty and for both preschoolers and gradeschoolers of divorced/separated parents, possibly because of visitation agreements among ex-spouse.

  28. Implications • Child care researchers should take into account seasonal patterns in child care usage and the options and constraints this presents for families. • While many families’ summer and school-year arrangements are similar, the increase in number of hours in care most likely means families spend more on child care in the summer. • There are few surveys that provide any detail about summer child care usage. Additional data is needed to better understand seasonal child care needs.

  29. Contact Information Lynda Laughlin Housing & Household Economic Statistics Lynda.L.Laughlin@Census.Gov Joseph Rukus Department of City and Regional Planning Jar395@Cornell.edu -Data in this presentation are from a sample, and therefore are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.For more information about the source and accuracy of the data go to http://www.census.gov/sipp/source.html. -All comparative states have undergone statistical testing and are all significant at the 90-percent confidence level unless otherwise noted.

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