Child Care Choices of Low-Income Working Families

This research study examines the factors involved in the child care choices of low-income working families in two urban communities. Applying qualitative research methods, this study explores how low-income parents' decisions are shaped, facilitated, or constrained by "family characteristics" as well as "contextual community factors", such as employment, child care supply, information about available child care and subsidies, and social networks. In addition to examining low-income families in low-resourced neighborhoods as a whole, this study focuses specifically on the factors that shape the decisions of families who, according to literature, likely face particular constraints in their child care choices. These families include "immigrant families", where at least one parent is foreign born; "English language learner (ELL) families", where at least one parent speaks English as a second language and lacks English fluency; and "families with children with health, development, or other special needs". This study focuses primarily on the process of parents' child care decisionmaking and builds on a growing body of research that has identified a range of personal and contextual factors that influence the type of child care that low-income families use. The study supports and adds to the extant research by going beyond the patterns of association between family characteristics and child care arrangements to describe the complexity of child care decisionmaking; the interplay between parental opportunities, preferences, and constraints; and the ultimate reasons parents select the type of care they do.