Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Jennifer Ehrle Macomber on Child Care and Development

This report examines more than 100 programs through which the federal government spends money on children and calculates the amount spent on children under three. These first time expenditure estimates provide a place to start in gauging the priority the nation places on investing in very young children and in comparing expenditure patterns to researchers’ findings about investments that work. For example, despite extensive child development research underscoring the importance of quality early care and education programs for infants and toddlers, especially those in poverty, just 7 percent of federal funding for children between birth and age 2 went toward these efforts in 2007.

Extensive research shows investing in very young children can help build a strong future workforce, improve children's educational success and health, and potentially reduce some of the social ills that drain the nation’s resources and will. What investments does the United States currently make in infants and toddlers?

Parents in low-wage jobs lack both the time and resources needed to fill their dual roles of worker and parent. In this summary, the authors outline a “family security” approach that would help parents fulfill their roles effectively. They suggest policies for enabling parents to improve prospects for their children and combine work with child rearing. Among the recommendations are flexible and paid leave policies for working parents, guaranteed child care, and expansion of the Early Head program.

This brief compiles the best available data on the characteristics of vulnerable young children in four service systems: Early Head Start (EHS); the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); the child welfare (CW) system; and Part C Early Intervention Programs (Part C). Data reveal that the children and families in these systems look fairly similar on some key dimensions, suggesting that policy initiatives to support young children's development might be informed by distilling common lessons from the systems' different research bases.

Jennifer Macomber, a research associate with the Urban Institute’s Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, talks about vulnerable families and what's being done to protect the children.

More than other states, Wisconsin eliminated the entitlement to cash assistance by linking receipt of welfare to work. The state's W-2 program focuses heavily on job readiness and is designed to mirror the work world. A four-tier system places recipients in different activities depending on their level of job readiness. Wisconsin also recognized child care as an important work support by creating a single child care system for all low-income working families. Wisconsin is one of the only states in our study to offer kin caring for relative children a payment through the child welfare system in place of the child-only grant usually offered by the welfare office.

In 1996 and 1997, the Urban Institute conducted case studies in 13 states that provided a baseline for understanding changes emerging from welfare reform. This set of state updates describes changes occurring between 1996-97 and 1999-2000 based on a second set of case studies completed in 1999 and 2000. Programs covered include income support through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, employment and training supports for low-income welfare and non-welfare families, child care, and child welfare. It also looks at interactions among these programs.

Nearly 5 million children younger than three are in childcare—the care of someone other than their parents—an average of 25 hours each week. Of the 6.7 million children under age three with working mothers, 22 percent are in child care centers, 17 percent are in family child care settings, 7 percent are cared for by babysitters or nannies, 27 percent are in the care of relatives, and 27 percent are cared for by a parent. The report also looks at variation of childcare patterns by age of child, family income, race and ethnicity of the child, mother's level of education, family structure, and parent availability.