Returning to Care…But Worried
Key Findings
More than half of the families in our survey report using some form of non-parental care for their young children prior to the pandemic. Immediately after the onset of the pandemic, that number dropped by more than half, to just 20% of households. In the ensuing months, families have been returning to using child care, although rates of use are still slightly below pre-pandemic levels.
Many parents returning to care have significant worries about child safety. Over the course of the pandemic, there has been a steady increase in the proportion of families expressing concern about exposing a child or other family member to COVID-19 as a result of using child care.
Our data also show shifts in the type of care parents are choosing. Immediately after the onset of the pandemic, the use of center-based care diminished substantially; it has since gradually increased. In contrast, there was a much smaller drop in the use of care by a home-based provider (including a paid and unpaid family, friend, or neighbor) at the start of the pandemic, and this type of care continues to be used by a higher proportion of families than center-based care.
All of these trends are occurring in a US child care system that was already struggling to meet the needs of families before the pandemic.
We discuss the implications of these trends for policy makers, for the economy, and for families as we head the winter months with COVID-19 infections surging and no financial relief package in place.
Background
The arrival of the pandemic in the US last spring led to the immediate shutdown of many areas of the economy. This included all forms of child care, with the exception of care for the children of essential workers.
The loss of child care placed an extraordinary burden on households with young children. Across the economic spectrum from low- to middle/upper income, many families had to manage caring for their young children while working from home.
Loss of child care during the pandemic is having negative effects on both economic recovery and critical issues of gender equity in employment.
As various sectors of the economy have re-opened, challenges with both the availability of and willingness to use child care have affected the return to work of those who employed in office and service-industry jobs.
In prior posts, we have reported that many parents are relying on them self or (in two-parent households) their spouse to take care of their child. Indeed, 90% of households in our survey report that they or their spouse is their primary source of child care.
Evidence from other surveys suggests that women are disproportionately leaving the workforce during the pandemic, and that, in part, this is due to a lack of child care. A study by the US Census found that women between 25–44 years of age are nearly three times as likely as men to not be working due to child care demands (32% vs. 12% respectively).
In this week’s post, we examine trends in the use of child care from before the pandemic to the present.
Other sources have reported that, since the initial shut-down, many child care providers have struggled to stay in business, owing to a combination of:
higher operating costs associated with protective supplies and regulations to assure health and safety, and
lower enrollment and lack of federal action to increase funding.
In the absence of new financial relief, one report found that 40% of child care providers surveyed — half of whom are minority owned businesses — expect that they will have to permanently shut their doors. These circumstances will threaten a child care system that was already foundering before the pandemic.
We analyze overall rates of child care utilization since last spring — specifically, whether the proportion of families using non-parental care has changed over time.
We also assess parents’ concerns about using child care, and how that has changed during the pandemic.
Finally, we look at the types of care that parents have been relying upon, comparing the rates of center-based care to home-based care, and further examining trends in different types of home-based care being used.
What do the survey data show?
Overall, rates of non-parental child care use dropped from 55% before the pandemic to just under 20% in early April, when the RAPID survey began.
Since that time, the use of child care has gradually increased, and is currently being used by just under half of households.
Many parents have significant concerns about using child care.
We analyzed responses to the open-ended question, “What are the biggest concerns and challenges for you and your family right now?” We selected all responses that referred to child care and used structural topic modeling to identify concerns related to child care.
Worry about children or other family members being exposed to COVID-19 from child care was one of the most common topics. The following statements are representative of more general concerns that we saw in the data.
A parent in Indiana is concerned about:
Keeping my family healthy while both parents work full time and toddler goes to child care center and 7 year-old goes to grandparents. Too many chances for virus exposure, but not many options.
A parent in Maryland worries about:
Figuring out child care that doesn’t put us at a higher risk of the virus
A Texas parent:
The kids will be going back to their child care center in October and we are pretty concerned about increasing our family’s exposure to the virus, but we just need the child care all day so desperately.
We examined trends in these concerns from mid-May and found a continuous increase in the proportion of families with these concerns.
By the time of our most recent survey, more than 1 in 5 families expressed this concern — up from 1 in 17 in May.
This increase parallels the return to using child care; thus, although families are increasingly using child care, an increasing number are also worried about whether it is safe to do so.
The types of child care being used by families also appears to be changing.
Before the pandemic, equal numbers of families were using center-based care (including pre-school, day care center, public pre-kindergarten, Head Start, or faith-based nursery school) and home-based care (including paid or unpaid care by family, friend or neighbor, or care from a home-based provider).
When the pandemic started, the use of center-based care dropped precipitously — from 29% to just 4% of households.
Since that time, it has increased steadily (now back up to 23%), but still has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
In contrast, the use of home-based care dropped far less at the onset of the pandemic (from 28% to 17% of households), and has since increased to rates that are actually above pre-pandemic levels (31%).
Implications of these findings
Child care in the United States is at a breaking point
Before the pandemic, child care in the US was already under stress.
The availability of quality care to meet the needs of families was inadequate, particularly for low income families and families of color, and in many areas of the country there were child care deserts.
Affordability was also a challenge, with the cost of care taking a large bite out of family income. Childcare subsidies to help support these costs existed, but very few families eligible were able to access them.
Since the onset of the pandemic, these same issues have continued and families have been faced with a whole new set of challenges that have made access to safe, quality child care a major worry.
All types of child care need more support
Home-based care—which has been used more than center-based care throughout the pandemic—needs enhanced support, including attention to income and racial equity issues.
In addition, center-based child care needs relief to remain viable in the face of decreases in enrollment and increases in operating costs.
The prevalence of and preference we observe for home-based care—including family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) care—calls for renewed attention to assure that these providers are included in the subsidy system, have access to a full range of supports including networks, home visiting, and coaching, and are compensated equitably.
The shifts away from center-based care are hurting child care centers, where revenue (tuition) has dropped and costs of social distancing, cleaning and sanitizing, and purchasing protective equipment have increased. Centers are closing and child care educators and support staff are unemployed.
Without federal action, we will not be able to maintain the supply of center-based care for parents as they return to this setting over time.
Taken together, the closure of centers, the rise in the use of home-based care, and the worsening financial status of most families with young children, means that parents’ ability to find and afford care that meets their needs will only get worse.
Improved child care is essential to American prosperity
Addressing the problems with child care, both those that existed pre-pandemic and those that have arisen since, is critical to the health and economic well-being of the American people.
Addressing the burgeoning crisis in child care should be a national priority.
Without a functioning system of child care, children and families will continue to experience high levels of stress that science shows that can negatively impact brain, behavior, emotional development, and health across the lifespan.
The risk of infection to child care providers, children, and family members may increase as the infection surges through the fall and winter. Moreover, the recovery of the economy from the pandemic-caused recession depends and the return to the workforce of those who have been sidelined due to the lack of child care (especially women) on a functioning child care system.
Now more than ever, the future depends on our ability to re-envision and implement a safe and equitable national system of child care that works for all families.
Recommendations
Urge federal policy makers to take action to stabilize the child care industry. Advocates and a number of national legislators are currently requesting $57B in federal stimulus funds to ensure programs can re-open and stay open to support the rebuilding of our economy.
Provide direct cash support to households of young children to enable them to afford informal child care during the pandemic (and address other material hardships).
Assure health and safety provisions for all child care including increased funding, guidelines and support to maintain healthy environments for children, families and providers.
Intentionally include family, friend and neighbor providers in relief efforts including emergency grants, access to protective equipment, and training on COVID health and safety protocols.
Intentionally include family, friend and neighbor providers and other home-based providers in robust mixed delivery child care systems going forward. Ensure these caregivers are adequately compensated and can access support to facilitate developmentally appropriate care to young children.
Invest in durable infrastructure to engage and support home- based providers including FFN care; home-based networks can provide culturally responsive monitoring support, quality resources, and connect caregivers to community services including mental and physical health.
Accelerate piloting and implementation of quality improvement programs to meet the needs of FFN caregivers including home-visiting, emotional support groups and play and learn groups as methods to deliver health and safety and quality support.
Additional Readings
“In the Covid-19 Economy, You can Have a Kid or a Job. You Can’t Have Both,” New York Times.
“Working Moms Bear Brunt of Home Schooling while Working During COVID-19,” United States Census Bureau.
“Early Progress: State Child Care Assistance Policies 2019,” The National Women’s Law Center.
“Inequitable Access to Child Care Subsidies,” CLASP.
“Researchers Warnd Nearly Half of U.S. Child Care Centers Could Be Lost to Pandemic,” NPR.
“Coronavirus Pandemic Could Lead to Permanent Loss of Nearly 4.5 Million Child Care Slots,” Center for American Progress.
“If the Senate Doesn’t Bail Out the Childcare Industry, Economists See Women Leaving the Workforce En Masse,” Business Insider.
“The Child Care Crisis Is Keeping Women Out of the Workforce,” Center for American Progress.
“The Coronavirus Will Make Child Care Deserts Worse and Exacerbate Inequality,” Center for American Progress.
“Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Care.
“Strategies for Supporting Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care Providers,” National Women’s Law Center.
“One in Five Child Care Jobs Have Been Lost Since February, and Women Are Paying the Price,” National Women’s Law Center.
“Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care: Facts and Figures,” National Women’s Law Center.
“Health Child Development Depends on Quality Child Care—And So Does the Economy,” Learning Policy Institute.
“America’s Child Care Deserts in 2018,” Center for American Progress.
“Regulation and the Cost of Child Care,” Mercatus Center.
“COVID-19 Transmission in US Child Care Programs,” Pediatrics.
“Structural Topic Models for Open-Ended Survey Responses,” American Journal of Political Science.
“The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress,” Pediatrics.
About the project
When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged last winter, there were over 24 million children age five and under living in the United States. This period of early childhood is a critical window that sets the stage for health and well-being across the lifespan. As such, it is essential during the current health and economic crisis to listen to the voices of households with young children.
The weekly survey of households with children age five and under launched on April 6, 2020. Since then, we have been gathering weekly data about child and adult emotional well-being, financial and work circumstances, availability of healthcare, and access to child care/early childhood education.
These analyses are based on responses collected from 7,457 caregivers between the dates of April 06, 2020 and October 08, 2020. These caregivers represent a range of voices: 9.32% are Black/African American, 18.89% are LatinX, and 29.14% live at or below 1.5 times the federal poverty line. Proportions/percentages are calculated based on the item-level response rates, not out of the total sample size. Please note that caregivers were able to select more than one option for type of non-parental care being used. The data for these analyses are not weighted.
We will continue to report on these issues as we learn more from each new weekly survey. We will also be producing policy briefs that make concrete recommendations about how to address the challenges we are seeing emerge from the family surveys.
Our goal is to use what we are hearing from families to improve the well-being of all households with young children, during the pandemic and beyond.Additional readings
Suggested citation
Center for Translational Neuroscience (2020, October 27). Returning to Care…But Worried. Medium. https://medium.com/rapid-ec-project/returning-to-care-but-worried-5093fda63dab