The Use of Relative Care While Parents Work

Assessing the New Federalism Discussion Paper No. 04-09

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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Executive Summary

Many families rely on relatives to care for children while the parents are at work. While recognition of the important role relative care plays in the lives of children and families has been growing, the child care field has been missing a basic picture of relative care use in the United States. This paper uses the 1999 National Survey of America's Families to look in depth at the use of relative care for children under 13 while their parents¹ are at work—including who uses it, for how many hours, and how often it is relied on as the only child care arrangement versus one of a combination of arrangements.² The paper also examines some characteristics of these relative care settings, such as whether the care is provided in the child's or relative's home, whether the caregiver is above the age of 18, whether the child is cared for in a multi-child setting, and whether the care is provided by a relative who lives with the child.

Some main findings from this paper include the following:

• Relative care is used for a significant number of children under 13 with an employed parent. Approximately 9.9 million children under 13 regularly spend time in relative care while their parents are at work—and 7.5 million of these children are in relative care as their only nonparental care arrangement.
• Many children spend significant amounts of time in relative care while their parents are at work, particularly children under 5. Approximately one in three children under 5 (37 percent of children under 3 and 31 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds) in relative care spend 35 or more hours a week in that care.
• Relative care use varies for children of different ages. Approximately one-third of children under 5 regularly spend at least some time in relative care while their parents are at work, compared with one-quarter of 6- to 12-year-olds.
• The use of relative care in combination with other arrangements is low, so when children are in relative care it is often their only nonparental arrangement. Children under 3 are more likely than any other age group to be in relative care as their only arrangement, while 3- and 4-year-olds are more likely than other age groups to be in relative care as part of a combination of nonparental arrangements. However, even though 3- and 4-year-olds are more likely than other age groups to be in relative care in combination, almost one in five 3- and 4-year-olds are in only relative care while their parents are at work.
• Some families—such as low-income families and single-parent families—are more likely to have their children in only relative care as their care arrangement. However, patterns of which families are more likely to rely on relative caregivers vary by the age of the child.
• The characteristics of the relative care settings vary in terms of where the care takes place, the age of the caregiver, whether other children are being cared for at the same time, and whether the relative caregiver lives with the child. These characteristics also vary by the age of the child. For example, children under 5 are more likely to be cared for in the relative's home than school-age children. Of those cared for in their own homes, school-age children are more likely to be cared for by a relative under the age of 18 than children under 5.

Our analysis indicates that relative care provides an important support for many working families and affects the lives of millions of children. For many children, it is the only arrangement in which they spend time. The implications of relying exclusively on relative care depends on the quality of care provided, but it may be a particular issue for 3- and 4-year-olds who may be missing out on programs designed to prepare them for school. These issues underscore the importance of reaching out to relative caregivers and working to support and enhance the quality of care provided by them. However, the wide range of relative care settings in which children spend their time may make designing policies that appropriately target these caregivers more challenging.

Notes from this section

1 By parent, we are referring to the most knowledgeable adult (MKA)—usually a parent—who answered questions about the child's child care arrangements.

2 For information about relative care using 2002 data, please see Kathleen Snyder, Timothy Dore, and Sarah Adelman, "Use of Relative Care by Working Parents," Snapshots of America's Families III (Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, forthcoming).

Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

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