Report Federal Formula Grants: Federal Child Care Programs By Tim Ransdell, Shervin Boloorian Jun 30, 2005 The fast-growing, multibillion dollar federal child care financing system provides resources primarily to low- and moderate-income families to subsidize child care services and activities. With women entering the workforce in record numbers in recent years, government-supported public and private child care networks have come to serve as an economic aid for growing numbers of working families, including federal welfare recipients. Studies monitoring the effect of child care services indicate that the availability of such services can measurably increase the likelihood that a welfare family will successfully transition from government assistance to self-sufficiency. This report reviews federal child care programs and the formulas used to distribute child care assistance funds to states, discusses California’s child care receipts under the current formula framework, compares the state’s experience to that of other states, and considers the effect of key child care reauthorization proposals in Congress on child care financing policies.
blog post 1 in 4 Child Care Workers in California Lives in Poverty By Tess Thorman, Caroline Danielson, Sarah Bohn Oct 16, 2018 While demand for preschools and child care is high in California, the state's child care workers—particularly women of color—are poorly paid and almost twice as likely to live in poverty than workers overall.
blog post How Is California’s Child Care Sector Faring? By Sarah Bohn, Julien Lafortune Jul 7, 2022 Parents are back to work, with the share of employed mothers even higher than it was pre-COVID. But job recovery in the child care sector markedly lags that of the economy overall.
blog post Emergency Child Care for Essential Workers By Caroline Danielson, Daniel Tan, Tess Thorman Apr 15, 2020 With most schools and many child care providers across California now closed, many essential workers could have a hard time arranging for care for their children. New state and federal policies take steps to help address this need.
Report Child Care Price Dynamics in California By Margaret O’Brien-Strain, Grecia Marrufo, Helen Oliver Dec 17, 2003 Although expenditures on child care subsidies in California rose from $125 million in 1992 to $1.5 billion in 2001, some 200,000 children in California are still on the waiting list for child care vouchers, and many families are eligible for assistance but unaware that they qualify for it. In Child Care Price Dynamics in California, Grecia Marrufo, Margaret O’Brien-Strain, and Helen Oliver examine California’s child care market in light of these recent policy changes. They document double-digit increases in real child care prices, significant price variation by region, and stable earnings for child care workers. They also conclude that state subsidies, which accounted for roughly 20 percent of gross receipts in the California child care market in the 1990s, put significant upward pressure on child care prices.
blog post Broad Support for Job Training and Child Care to Boost Recovery By Dean Bonner, Vicki Hsieh Dec 11, 2020 In the latest PPIC Statewide Survey, most Californians support key policy proposals to increase economic well-being and broaden opportunity.
Report Arranging and Paying for Child Care By Margaret O’Brien-Strain, Laura Moyé, Freya Lund Sonenstein Dec 18, 2003 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.
Report The Impact of Expanding Public Preschool on Child Poverty in California By Caroline Danielson, Tess Thorman Jun 17, 2019 High-quality preschool has many benefits, such as promoting early skill development in young children and supporting work among parents. More investments in public preschool could also help reduce child poverty by subsidizing an important family expense.
