February 6, 2023

I’m pleased to share more highlights from the Child Care Policy Research Partnership (CCPRP) grants. These selected findings are from 3 of the 11 CCPRP-2019 grants funded by the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation.

What were parents’ experiences searching for child care in the wake of the pandemic? (November 2022)

Parents seeking quality child care in the District of Columbia were equally concerned about the cost and quality of care, according to a recent parent survey. To help them find a provider, parents most frequently used Google or other search engines, asked friends or neighbors with children, or walked or drove around their neighborhoods to find programs nearby. On average, parents who received a child care subsidy reported having an easier time looking for and finding care than those who didn’t receive a subsidy. Explore additional products, including a fact sheet and technical report about the parent survey.

Back to normal in 2021? Michigan’s child care assistance usage (August 2022)

Families who joined Michigan’s child care assistance program in 2021 had similar patterns of child care access as families who joined in 2019. The average length of time these families remained in the program without a break was similar to the year before the pandemic, as was the length of time that children remained with the same provider. However, there were significant declines in the number of providers and families receiving child care assistance in 2020, with additional losses in 2021. Black families experienced a much more severe drop in first-time participation than white or Hispanic families. Other recently released Michigan reports focus on geographic equity in subsidy use (PDF), perceptions of temporary policies, and the ways program data and parent interviews provide different interpretations of child care access.

Staffing challenges at Louisiana child care centers (PDF) (April 2022)

Child care centers in Louisiana are facing staffing challenges during the pandemic. As of January 2022, there was an average number of two teacher vacancies per site. Because of staffing shortages, many centers were hiring inexperienced or underqualified staff or were having their current staff work more hours or take on additional duties. Child care leaders were concerned about the negative effects of staffing challenges on children and staff at their sites. Other briefs present findings on center staffing challenges in Orleans (PDF) and Jefferson (PDF) Parishes. A recent Louisiana report also shares findings on professionalizing the child care workforce (PDF).

I look forward to sharing highlights from other partnerships in future emails. This and five earlier CCPRP-2019 Highlights are archived on the Grantee Reports page of our Building Child Care Research Capacity web page.