View Research by Author - Kathleen Snyder

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/KathleenSnyder

Child care providers are a linchpin of the voucher subsidy system, yet little is known about how the system works for them. This comprehensive report examines the voucher experiences of child care centers and family child care homes in five counties in 2003–04. Using data from a survey of representative sample of providers and discussions with providers, caseworkers, and administrators, it examines provider experiences with key features of voucher systems and highlights policy strategies to help the system better meet their needs. It is part of the Urban Institute’s Child Care Providers and the Child Care Voucher System project.

Many families receiving publicly-funded child care vouchers choose legally unregulated family, friend, and neighbors to care for their children while they work. This paper highlights the experiences of these providers with vouchers in selected communities in 2004. It presents findings from interviews with subsidy agency staff and administrators and focus groups with unregulated providers. It examines the voucher subsidy policies developed for these caregivers in these sites, and how both agency staff and providers perceive these policies and experience working together. The paper is part of the Urban Institute’s Child Care Providers and the Child Care Voucher System project.

Faith-based providers are key in delivering child care services overall and for children receiving child care vouchers, though data are scarce in this area. Using data from a survey of a representative sample of centers and site visits in five counties in 2003-4, this report examines the role of faith-based organizations in center-based child care, the extent to which centers affiliated with faith-based organizations care for children receiving vouchers, and whether such providers face barriers to working with the voucher system. The paper is part of the Urban Institute’s Child Care Providers and the Child Care Voucher System project.

Many state and local child care subsidy agencies have been redesigning their policies to better meet the needs of the families they serve, and to create more efficient and fiscally responsible systems. These strategies reflect states' growing understanding of the dynamic nature of low-income families' lives and of the challenges they face as they move toward stable employment. This report synthesizes findings from various research projects conducted by the Urban Institute (and other organizations), and lays out a range of policy strategies states are implementing to support eligible families in accessing and retaining child care subsidies.

Though child care subsidies are an important work support, subsidy policies can make participation challenging. This policy brief summarizes a longer report on strategies to lower subsidy participation barriers in seven Midwestern states, and discusses their experiences and tradeoffs (i.e. staff workload, improper payments, and program costs). Strategies are in eight areas: linking subsidies to other social services; improving customer service practices; simplifying application processes; simplifying recertification requirements; simplifying reporting requirements; minimizing subsidy breaks; assisting parents with nontraditional work schedules; and assisting parents with language barriers. This brief identifies key themes and provides a guide to help policymakers better support families.

Though child care subsidies are an important work support, subsidy policies can make participation challenging. This report highlights subsidy agency strategies to lower participation barriers in seven Midwestern states, and discusses their experiences and tradeoffs (i.e. staff workload, improper payments, and program costs). Strategies are in eight policy areas: linking subsidies to other social services; improving customer service practices; simplifying application processes; simplifying recertification requirements; simplifying reporting requirements; minimizing subsidy breaks; assisting parents with nontraditional work schedules; and assisting parents with language barriers. It identifies key themes and provides a guide to help policymakers interested in better supporting families.

This report provides a synthesis of three reports from a multi-phased examination of the connections between the child care and welfare systems for TANF families. It contains 12 overarching findings that emerged from the overall study about the complex interaction between the two systems and discusses the implications of these findings for agencies, TANF clients, and policymakers. It highlights different cross-system approaches, identifies strategies that can minimize administrative duplication and client burden, and sets a framework to help policymakers, administrators, and others interested in designing more effective service delivery systems to help families with child care needs move from welfare to work.

This reports highlights parents' experiences with accessing and retaining subsidies as they move through and off the welfare system. It is based on focus groups that were conducted in 4 sites with parents receiving TANF and child care subsidies, as well as parents who had recently left TANF and were still receiving child care subsidies. It provides information on parents' experiences with key aspects of the TANF/child care subsidy process -- including applying for subsidies, finding a provider, ongoing subsidy requirements, and the transition off welfare -- and discusses the implications for policy and practice.

This report examines the intersection of the welfare-to-work and child care systems in 11 local sites/11 states in 2001. It documents how these systems were set up and connected, the factors that aided or impeded coordination between the systems, and the process TANF clients needed to complete as they moved through the welfare-to-work and child care subsidy systems while on welfare. It highlights the range of approaches taken by states, and discusses the implications for parents as well as for both child care and welfare-to-work agencies.

Faith-based organizations play an important role in the provision and support of child care services. This document summarizes preliminary findings from a forthcoming study on the extent to which child care centers in five counties in four states across the country are affiliated with faith-based organizations, housed in buildings belonging to faith-based organizations, or provide religious instruction, organized prayer or worship services. The research also explores whether faith-affiliated child care centers appear to face any barriers to participating in child care voucher programs funded through the federal Child Care and Development Fund.

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