Arranging and Paying for Child Care

This two-part study examines the current state of child care in California. The authors first look at the general use of child care across a broad range of settings: structured care in programs such as child care centers, nursery schools, and Head Start programs; family day care provided to a group of children in the provider’s home; care by relatives in the child’s home or the relative’s home; and nanny or babysitter arrangements where an unrelated caregiver regularly provides child care in the child’s home. The authors then shift their attention more specifically to the role of child care in promoting early childhood education, focusing their analysis on the preschool enrollment of children ages 3 and 4 and investigating the implications of expanding access through universal preschool programs.