Families with young children in Harris County, Texas, are struggling to meet basic needs
Since March 2023, RAPID has worked with the Harris County Early Childhood Initiatives division, the University of Houston Institute for Research on Women, Gender & Sexuality (IRWGS), and 17 community partners in Harris County, Texas, to listen to Harris County families with young children about their experiences, the supports they need, and what’s going well. Harris County and IRWGS will share the insights with stakeholders to inform program and policy decisions in the community.
Download the complete fact sheet for direct quotes from survey participants and more.
In this fact sheet, we lay out what we’ve learned from parents with children under age 6 in Harris County – the most-populated county in Texas and home to the city of Houston – about their experiences with child care, and family economic and emotional well-being. These data were gathered in surveys between April 2023 and June 2024, and represent 1,125 parents with young children across Harris County.
More than half of Harris County families with young children have difficulty meeting basic needs
RAPID asks Harris County parents with young children about experiences of material hardship. RAPID measures material hardship as difficulty, in the last month of affording basic needs, such as food, housing, utilities, child care, healthcare, and activities that support well-being (e.g., counseling).
The percentage of Harris County parents reporting material hardship in at least one area of basic need rose from 39% in April 2023 to 57% in June 2024. The top categories of material hardship are utilities, housing, food, healthcare, child care, and wellness activities, respectively. Parents’ ability to meet children’s basic needs is essential to responsive caregiving, which is foundational to young children’s positive development.
Among Harris County parents experiencing difficulty affording utilities, a substantial percentage of parents (86%) are having difficulty affording electricity, followed far behind by difficulty affording phone (42%) and water (36%); parents could select more than one category of utilities in their responses. These reports of families experiencing hardship affording electricity are particularly concerning in southern U.S. communities like Harris County that are being affected by the effects of extreme weather.
Families with young children experiencing material hardship, overall
The majority of Harris County parents with young children report high levels of emotional distress
RAPID surveys also ask parents with young children about their emotional well-being, and measures emotional distress as a composite of four experiences: stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness.*
* RAPID measures anxiety by asking parents to select how often they have been bothered by “feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge” or “not being able to stop or control worrying” in the past week. RAPID measures depression by asking parents to select how often they have been bothered by “little interest or pleasure in doing things” or “feeling down, depressed, or hopeless” in the past week. RAPID measures loneliness by asking parents to select how often they felt lonely in the past month. RAPID measures stress by asking parents to select how often they felt stress in the past month.
Nearly two in three (64%) Harris County parents with young children report experiencing emotional distress in the December 2023 survey. Of the parents who experience emotional distress symptoms, anxiety is the most prevalent symptom that parents experience (52%), followed closely by stress (43%), loneliness (42%), and depression (37%).
In other analyses, RAPID data has consistently shown a chain reaction of hardship. That is, as parents’ experiences of hardship increase, they are also more likely to report emotional distress (higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness), which, in turn, is associated with an increase in emotional distress among their young children.
One in three Harris County parents with young children rely on child care
Child care supports the nurturing care and learning important for children’s healthy early development, supports adults in caring for their families, and plays a key role in our economy and communities. RAPID asks parents of young children in Harris County about their experiences with child care, to better understand if and how child care is supporting their families.
More than one in three Harris County parents (38%) report using child care for their children under age 6. The data show that families of young children across all income levels, races, and ethnicities rely on child care.
We asked parents who rely on child care about the care setting and their child care provider, and they could select more than one option in their response:
— 56% use center-based care
— 36% use unpaid family, friend, or neighbor (FFN) care
— 20% use paid FFN care
— 8% use home-based care in the child care provider’s residence
Among parents who use paid or unpaid FFN care:
— 65% use grandparents
— 19% use other parents/step-parents
— 17% use friends
— 14% use other relatives
— 8% use their child who is 15 years or older
— 2% use neighbors
Many Harris County families rely on nearby grandparents for child care, but not all families have grandparent support (e.g., some immigrant families or those with grandparents with health challenges). This highlights the need for policies and programs that ensure reliable child care options for all families with young children.
Families with young children reporting use of child care, overall
Conclusion
Given the high rates of material hardship and emotional distress among parents of young children in Harris County, there is a need to ensure parents and families of young children receive early and necessary support so that all children and families can thrive. Emotional well-being, economic stability, and reliable access to child care are essential for providing supportive, responsive caregiving, which is core to the positive and healthy development of young children. We have found that there are actions that can be taken to address these challenges. Economic supports like the expanded Child Tax Credit payments and other pandemic-era federal relief programs have been shown to protect families from both experiencing material hardship and the negative impacts of material hardship on emotional well-being.
Download the complete fact sheet for direct quotes from survey participants and more.
