Who Cares for America's Children? (1990) / Chapter Skim
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III THE CURRENT SYSTEM6 Child Care Services
III THE CURRENT SYSTEM6 Child Care Services
Pages 145-193
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III The Current System
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From page 147... ...
The most striking characteristic of the existing system of out-of-home child care is its diversity. Like other social services, child care services have not developed within any designed framework of regulations, policy, or legislation.
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what exceptions, and with what types of enforcement and sanctions is an old one. After more than a decade of legislative and regulatory battles at the national level, the Federal Interagency Day Care Requirements were eliminated in 1982, and states are now responsible for the regulation of child care services.
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From page 149... ...
Child care provided by parents and other relatives is unregulated whether it occurs in the child's own home or in the relative's home. Only when an adult cares for a related child along with other children in a child care center or a regulated family day care home are these services subject to state or local government monitoring and enforcement.
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From page 150... ...
As immigration patterns and laws have changed, and as women who have been in this country for some time accumulate labor market experience, their likelihood of becoming child care providers in someone else's home will probably continue to decline. Like relative care, in-home care provided by nannies, babysitters, and other unrelated caregivers is unregulated.
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Estimates of the number of children cared for in family day care homes are similarly wide. The Family Day Care Home Study reported an average of 3.5 children per home (excluding the caregiver's own children)
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:-:-:-:-:-: ·:-:-:-:-:-: :-:-:-: ..... 1 988 YEAR FIGURE 6-2 Regulated family day care homes, 1777-1978, 1982, 1988.
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Like the younger women in the first category, they often decide to take on the care of other unrelated children as a means of earning some money while they are staying home with their relative's child. It is not uncommon for them to close down their family day care services when the related child no longer requires care.
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From page 154... ...
found that in three cities in states with regulations, 94 percent of providers were operating informally and independently; another 3 percent were independent and licensed or registered, meeting state regulations (and federal standards governing the Child Care Food Program) ; and another 3 percent were regulated and a part of a family day care network, under the auspices of a sponsoring agency.
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Indeed, the cost differences between sponsored or regulated family day care and center care are generally modest. As a result, these caregivers are more likely to earn somewhat higher wages (Kahn and Kamerman, 1987~.
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Other efforts to improve the quality of care in family day care homes including grading systems, municipal coordinating agencies, and advisory councils have been proposed and implemented in some localities, but there are no studies of the effects and effectiveness of these initiatives. Center Care Child care centers serving children from infancy through school age have been established in most communities across the country.
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From page 157... ...
Although centers vary in the developmental range of children in a group, they typically include a spread of 6 to 9 months; in contrast, family day care settings may have children whose ages range from infancy through school age in the same space with the same caregiver. Although centers group children more homogeneously by age, they frequently include children that are racially and ethnically more diverse than in family day care homes, especially if they receive federal subsidies for serving children in low-income families or are located in urban settings (Coelen et al., 1979~.
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From page 158... ...
Among child care workers, there are notable differences between those in center-based programs and those in family day care. According to the National Day Care Study, in 1977, center care providers had an average of 14 to 15 years of formal education, and 29 percent had 16 or more years of education twice the percentage among all employed females in the United States at that time.
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From page 159... ...
Teachers and teaching assistants who earn $4.00 per hour or less left their jobs at twice the rate of those who earned more than $6.0~0 per hour (Whitebook et al., 1989~. For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Centers In 1977 the National Day Care Study estimated that approximately 41 percent of child care centers were operated on a for-profit basis, either by national corporations or by independent providers (Coelen et al., 1979~.
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Data from the National Day Care Study showed that average weekly salaries (in the mid-1970s) ranged from $89 to $124 in for-profit centers and from $94 to $160 in not-for-profit centers.
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The National Day Care Study reported that the average monthly resource cost per full-time equivalent child (in 1977) was about $161; the range was from $80 to $310 per month, with about two-thirds of center expenditures for personnel (Travers and Ruopp, 1978~.
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, family day care may be similar in price for infant and toddler care. Although regulations such as those for staff/child ratios affect the cost of providing care, there seems to be no direct correlation between staff/child ratios and the fees charged to parents: for example, the fees for center-based care for infants in Atlanta and Boston are similar even though required staff/child ratios are 1:7 and 1:3, respectively.
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Public-sector unions have been particularly successful at negotiating for day care centers. The federal government, as an employer, continues to establish work-site centers; the Internal Revenue Service recently announced plans to open 10 new centers, and the U.S.
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Yet in 1989 contract negotiations, AT&T and its union highlighted the importance of child care as an employee benefit. School-Based Programs Increasingly over the past several years, public schools have expanded their role in early childhood education and child care.
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Most public schools that have prekindergarten classes offer part-day programs, although in a few cases states have contracted with agencies outside the schools to coordinate child care services to offer full-day coverage for working parents. However, Marx and Seligson (1988)
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From page 166... ...
Consequently, early childhood programs in school settings could provide a universal integrating experience to help overcome the two-tiered system that has developed in the present child care system-in which poor children are served in means-tested day care programs while middle- and upper-class children attend proprietary or private nursery programs (Kahn and Kamerman, 1987; Kagan, 1988~. On the other side, child care advocates argue that many inner-city schools are doing so badly at educating poor and minority children that making such schools responsible for very young children would only cause the failure to begin earlier.
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From page 167... ...
Currently, about 20 percent of local Head Start programs operate full day in order to combine high-quality compensatory education, social, medical, and nutrition services, as well as parent education, with more traditional child care services and schedules. Yet program officials are quick to distinguish Head Start from child care programs, and there is some disagreement within and outside of the federal government about whether to include Head Start funding in a tally of federal expenditures for child care.
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In contrast, school programs have no licensing standards. For staff, the reverse is often the case: states require less education for personnel in child care centers and Head Start programs than they do for teacher certification.
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Regardless of the local sponsoring agency, Head Start programs can be located in public school facilities. Approximately 20 percent of local programs are administered by local school districts and located in local public school buildings.
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Department of Education signed an interagency agreement in 1978 to promote collaboration between the social service system and the public schools in serving very young children with disabilities. The result was a national network of resource access projects mandated to work with state education agencies to establish effective local mechanisms for collaboration between local public schools and Head Start programs.
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By 1988 12 states had legislated some form of funding for school-age child care initiatives, and the federal government was providing modest support through a dependent-care block grant. Programs differ greatly and are administered by a diverse group of providers, including public and private schools, child care centers, youth centers, and family day care providers.
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Approximately 24 percent of schoolage children are cared for in family day care homes, compared with 7 percent who attend child care centers after school (Bureau of the Census, 1987~. These arrangements may owe their popularity to the flexibility of the provider.
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In these states and others, some resource and referral programs administer the Child Care Food Program, organize family day care networks, operate hot lines (or "warm lines") to provide information to parents on children's health and behavior, operate programs to stimulate interactions between school-age children and senior citizens, and provide market information and assistance to prospective child care providers.
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From page 174... ...
Employers have also recognized the role of resource and referral services in the development of child care services. For example, the Bank of America and several other private and public employers funded resource and referral services in the San Francisco area to recruit and train family day care providers.
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A recent study of the Child Care Food Program reports that participation by family day care providers has increased dramatically: in 1980 there were 18,000 homes participating in the program; in 1986 there were approximately 85,000 (Glantz et al., 1988~. Most of the increase is attributable to the increase in the number of sponsoring networks or systems.
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In vendor-voucher programs financed with public funds, parents select a child care provider (center or family day care home) and pay an income-tested fee (unless they are eligible for full subsidy)
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They argue that the use of vouchers causes the market to operate more efficiently because it puts providers in competition with one another and therefore drives down the wages of child care workers (but see below)
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Centers and family day care homes receive referrals if they are listed as eligible providers. BARRIERS TO TlIE DELIVERY OF SERVICES Staffing There is perhaps no issue more essential to the future of child care in the United States than staffing.
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Data concerning the income of family day care providers are more difficult to obtain. The National Day Care Home Study reported that the net weekly incomes of family day care providers in 1978 ranged from $50 to $62.
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Recent national data suggest that 57 percent of teachers and assistants in licensed child care centers have high school diplomas, and many have credentials through the CDA program; only a minority hold college degrees (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1985; Whitebook et al., 1989~. And family day care providers on average
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Salaries in education, although low, have traditionally been higher than salaries for social services positions, even when levels of education are comparable. Child care workers employed by schools consistently earn more than those in nonschool settings.
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In addition, enforcement systems have not grown proportionately to the growth in out-of-home child care services. As a result, very real questions have been raised about the effectiveness of regulation as a means of ensuring the quality of care in child care centers and in family day care homes, even in jurisdictions in which such care is regulated.
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From page 183... ...
Critics of state licensing and registration requirements insist that they increase the costs of providing services, "driving providers underground and limiting the number of children who can benefit" (Lehrman and Pace, 1985:1~. This has been a special concern with regard to family day care homes.
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From page 184... ...
The National Day Care Home Study in the late 1970s did show that regulation and sponsorship were associated with many of the characteristics that are desirable in family day care settings (Fosburg, 1981~. Building and Zoning Restrictions In many communities, restrictions on local land use, building, and zoning have become barriers to the development of child care programs and facilities centers as well as family day care homes whether operated on a for-profit or not-for-profit basis.1 Local ordinances that affect child care services include zoning and land use laws, building codes, and deed restrictions.
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From page 185... ...
Specific requirements concerning the configuration of indoor and outdoor space, building permits, and the use of materials have stymied many commercial developers willing to establish child care centers in new office complexes and proprietary providers building their own new facilities (Claudia Ostrander, Maryland National Bank, personal communication, May 23, 1988~. They have also affected family day care providers who adapt residential spaces for child care.
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From page 186... ...
A national survey of centers and licensed family day care homes in 1985 revealed that more than two-thirds of providers had experienced policy cancellations, nonrenewals, reductions in coverage, or large rate increases. Rate increases averaged approximately 300 percent (Strickland and Neugebauer, 1985~.
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In 1988 24 states required insurance coverage for child care centers and 7 required coverage for family day care homes (unpublished data from panel survey)
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With a couple of exceptions, the same has been true of the states. A1though many have passed legislation for funding early childhood programs through the schools, licensing and registering centers and family day care homes, subsidizing care for children from low-income families and those with special needs, and developing resource and referral services, few have effectively developed mechanisms for planning and coordination among these separate initiatives.
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From page 189... ...
These two organizations have involved schools, social services agencies, family day care networks, parent consumer groups, and local corporations to expand child care and Head Start. Much of their programmatic activity resembles initiatives in California cities and counties, combining community organizing and advocacy with resource and referral and technical assistance to local child care centers and prospective family day care providers.
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Fosburg, S 1981 Family Day Care in the United States.
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1980 Can quality family day care be achieved through regulation?
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Ruopp 1978 NationalDay Care Study. Preliminary Findings and TheirImplications.
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Oakland, Calif.: Child Care Employee Project. Zinsser, C 1986 A Study of New York Day Care Worker Salaries and Benefits.
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