In recent years, policymakers and administrators in DC have implemented changes in child care subsidy policies and practices with the aim of increasing access to affordable, quality child care for families. Researchers at the Urban Institute captured families’ varied perspectives on these changes to the DC subsidy program to inform future policies and practices. 

Why This Matters

Understanding families’ perspectives about the subsidy policies and practices that affect their access to child care is crucial to improving DC’s child care subsidy system to ensure care meets families’ needs. The goal of the system is to provide accessible child care, which is defined as care that is high quality, affordable, meets families’ and children’s needs, and available with reasonable effort.

Key Takeaways

• Most DC families eligible for child care subsidies gave the highest ratings when asked about access to quality child care but lowest ratings when asked about the affordability of child care.
• Some families, especially those eligible for but not receiving child care subsidies, reported challenges accessing affordable child care in DC.
• Families with child care subsidies reported child care met their own and their children’s needs at a higher rate than parents who did not use subsidies.
• Families had varied perspectives on whether care is available with reasonable effort, with some reporting positive experiences interacting with those managing the subsidy application process and others noting opportunities for improvement.

How We Did It

We captured the perspectives of families eligible to receive child care subsidies through short surveys conducted at in-person and community events between December 2023 and May 2024 (74 families) and interviews and focus groups conducted between June and August 2024 (24 families). Some respondents participated in both the short survey and an interview or focus group. The survey asked about the dimensions of access to child care, including perceptions of quality, affordability, treatment by those managing subsidy paperwork, and whether care met the family’s and their children’s needs. Interviews captured families’ experiences with child care subsidy policies and practices and with child care broadly in DC.