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| Reaching Parents with Child Care Consumer Education |
Especially in this day and age when most parents work, nothing is more important than finding child care that is affordable, accessible and safe.
- President Bill Clinton, October 23, 1997
Families need quality,
affordable child care so that they can succeed as parents and as workers. Child
care consumer education provides parents with child care information to assess
their needs, locate services, evaluate quality, and choose the best possible
care for their children. The ability to select high quality arrangements from
an array of choices is essential. Since parents of all incomes are using child
care in increasing numbers, one-on-one consumer education and multi-media public
awareness campaigns are critical to improving access to quality, affordable
care. The development of effective consumer education initiatives involves input
and feedback from the consumer -- the parent.
We...know how important it is to ensure choice for parents in their selection of child care. One size fits all child care does not fit America's families. We don't work the same hours, we don't have the same economic or other kinds of pressures that we're dealing with, so we have to provide more options and we have to empower parents with good information to enable them to become good consumers.
- First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, October 23, 1997
The availability of child care varies from community to community and by the type of care needed. In one study, 88 percent of the available spaces in centers in low-income communities were filled (Ross, 1996). Child care may also be especially difficult to find in rural communities, where there are fewer centers or family child care providers and where available caregivers may not be near a family's home or workplace. Compounding these scarcities are difficulties encountered by parents looking for care for infants and toddlers, school-age children, during nontraditional hours and for children with special needs. The General Accounting Office found in 1997 that "the largest gaps between known supply and demand in the poor areas of the selected sites exist for infants, school-aged children or both."
Research with parent focus groups has found that this consumer decision is challenging for many families because:Good consumer education is critical to making the market function properly. If parents are not able to make informed choices, their access to the market is limited. Further, if parents demand safe and quality care, providers are more likely to supply it. (Office of the Inspector General, US Department of Health and Human Services)
To face these challenges and make informed choices about child care, parents need support as they begin the process of choosing and evaluating care for their children. This support includes information, personal attention, and access to financial assistance.
Information. Parents need information to make the best decision for their children's care, including:
|
Child Care Aware is a national initiative to provide information about child care to parents. The mission of Child Care Aware is to ensure that every parent has access to good information about finding quality child care and resources in their community through national consumer marketing and by raising the visibility of local child care resource and referral agencies. Child Care Aware has identified eight key principles for designing effective child care consumer education efforts at the state and local levels. Successful project designs include:
Child Care Aware is an initiative
managed by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral
Agencies (NACCRRA) with the Child Care Action Campaign and the National
Association for Family Child Care as advisory partners. |
Access to
Support.
Information about child care subsidies at the state and local level, materials
about the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
can help parents afford the care of their choice.
Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs) can support families by connecting them to the information they need, while providing one-on-one counseling opportunities to help them choose quality care for their children. According to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), community based CCR&Rs:
|
Bright Dreams: A Child Care Consumer Education Program Reaching Parents-to-Be and New Parents Programs for Parents, a child
care resource and referral agency in NEW JERSEY, is implementing a Child
Care Aware consumer education program focused on parents-in-waiting and
new parents. The program conveys a message about quality child care to
parentsattending Lamaze method and parenting classes, andthrough closed-circuit
television in the maternity departments of four large hospitals in Essex
County, New Jersey. |
The Child and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the major source of federal funding to the States to help low-income parents find and afford child care. Under the CCDBG, States are required to certify that they will "promote informed child care choices." Additionally, the CCDBG legislation includes a set aside of not less than 4 percent of total funds for activities that are "designed to provide comprehensive consumer education to parents and the public, activities that increase parental choice, and activities designed to improve the quality and availability of child care (such as resource and referral services)."
This requirement has led to innovative new consumer education initiatives across the country. Many states have begun efforts to integrate the child care subsidy application process with consumer education programs. CCDBG funds have supported the efforts of community agencies such as child care resource and referral agencies to inform parents about available child care services. These efforts have increased the child care consumer education services available to low-income families, and have created new opportunities to tell families about child care assistance available through subsidy programs.
| When a parent is enrolled in the child care subsidy program in CALIFORNIA, he/she is asked if a child care provider has been selected. If they have not selected a child care provider, they are referred to the local resource and referral program. The resource and referral agency provides counseling on how to select a child care provider that best meets the family's needs, and a list of providers for the family to visit. California has legislated that child care resource and referral staff be co-located in each county welfare office in order to provide consumer education and referrals to parents. Multimillion dollar funding for this new initiative is part of the Governor's budget. |
However, some barriers continue to exist that interfere with the development of strong consumer education networks. The Office of the Inspector General, in a 1998 report, found that "most [States] were not able to provide sufficient consumer education." Similar obstacles were found across the states, including:
According to a study by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., low-income families face severe constraints, including limited income, jobs with inflexible and nonstandard schedules, an insufficient supply of formal child care, and a lack of other adults in the household to assist with work and childrearing responsibilities. These constraints make the search for child care more difficult.
Quality
of Care From a Parent's Point of View
(Quality of Care From a Parent's
Point of View: A Place at the Policy Table for Child Care Consumers, Arthur
Emlen, 1996 unpublished paper, |
Recognizing that it is through a combination of individual consumer education and public awareness activities that parents will seek and assess child care, and eventually increase the demand for high quality care, states have adopted different strategies to help educate parents about their child care choices and the availability of subsidies. In some cases, they have established statewide networks of resource and referral agencies to insure that every parent in the state has a reliable resource to turn to for information about child care.
| INDIANA has launched an initiative to enhance and expand statewide and local resource and referral activities. The primary services available to parents and community agencies will include information on the supply and availability of child care throughout the state, and consumer education and child care referrals for families. The goal is to create a system of consumer education and public awareness to encourage parents to seek, evaluate and eventually demand quality child care. |
The Child Care and Development Block Grant Report of State Plans shows:
Other states are using multi-media campaigns to make consumer education available 24 hours a day. Internet and other technologies have made this approach cost-effective and simple to implement.
| NORTH CAROLINA, CALIFORNIA, NEW JERSEY and ILLINOIS are among the states using the World Wide Web as one means of delivering child care consumer education to families. Each state has several child care pages, including information on "What Parents Should Know about Child Care," searchable directories of regulated child care providers, how to participate in the child care subsidy program and a listing of local child care resource and referral agencies. Illinois includes information about standards for centers and family child care homes. Links to other organizations with information on finding and choosing child care are also included. |
| Community resource and referral agencies are also using technology to meet the diverse needs of families in multiple settings. In WASHINGTON state, Child Care Resources, the community resource and referral agency serving Seattle/King County, is using the Web to provide consumer education and referrals. This will soon be available statewide. |
Many states have developed systems to bring consumer education to families applying for the child care subsidy. Co-location of these services at the time and place of application has helped many states maximize the effectiveness of the consumer education services they provide.
| In UTAH, the resource and referral agency has prepared a slide show and video for parents on how to choose child care, which are shown while families apply for the child care subsidy at the Employment Center. Pamphlets and books are also available. Families may also attend a workshop on "How to Choose Quality Child Care." |
In other states, the resource and referral system is the central point of contact for families to access the child care subsidy program and consumer education. This integrated approach is designed to provide parents with easy access to resources, financial assistance, and counselors to support their child's needs. It is also used to support statewide public awareness campaigns to educate families, providers and employers about the importance of quality child care.
| Child Care Management Agencies in ALABAMA, located in the community resource and referral agencies, provide consumer education and child care referral services to low-income families. They also process eligibility applications from families and process payments to providers. |
| The FLORIDA Children's Forum administers a statewide resource and referral network that oversees consumer education activities throughout the state. The Forum develops a statewide listing of early childhood services, consumer education materials in a variety of languages and formats, including the brochure "See It Through Your Child's Eyes," and outreach programs to help families locate and afford quality child care. |
Several states have designed consumer education initiatives targeted to the needs of certain families, such as those with school-age children or families of children with special needs. Often, these are collaborative efforts with partners from other state agencies, community agencies, schools, health care providers and other service agencies.
| COLORADO Options for Inclusive Child Care, administered by the Colorado Office of Resource and Referral Agencies, is a project designed to increase the awareness of child care resource and referral agencies (R&Rs) of the issues that impact families of children and youth with special needs, and to assist R&Rs to develop strategies that support families in building partnerships with child care and respite care workers. The project will build the capacity of community agencies to act as a catalyst in promoting community involvement in inclusive child care and increase community utilization of R&Rs for recruiting, training, and supporting providers of child care and respite services. Services for families and providers include problem solving when care options are limited or non-existent, tips on interviewing and contracting, and help in identifying barriers to inclusion specific to each care setting. |
| Child Care 2000, a broad collaborative in WASHINGTON coordinated by the Washington State Child Care Resource and Referral Network and involving 14 statewide early childhood and youth organizations, 4 state agencies, the Child Care Coordinating Committee, is a consumer education and parent engagement campaign to inform parents about the importance of quality adult caregiving relationships for children and youth of all ages. One of the lessons learned during the campaign has been that one message does not fit all parents' situations. Child Care 2000 developed a message to the parents of school-agers that is relevant to the complexities involved in the process of choosing an appropriate place for their school-age child. A positive message was chosen which grabs parents' attention: School Age Care: Growing Up With Someplace To Go. |
Reaching Parents through child care consumer education is a vital step in the process of ensuring that families have access to the best possible child care services for their children. Responsive consumer education strengthens the child care delivery system and enables parents, providers and communities to work together to identify and address their child care needs.
There are many examples in states and local communities of effective consumer education initiatives. As states continue to address the growing need for child care services, consumer education will be the mechanism for sharing information with families, providing essential support and connecting families with the services they need.
Four Steps for Parents Selecting a Child Care Provider
The following organizations have information and resources for states, families and communities.
Child Care Action CampaignCHILD CARE AWARE
A toll-free phone number provides parents with a direct link to their community child care
resource and referral agency:
800-424-2246
| Reaching Parents with Child Care Consumer Education was prepared for the Child Care Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, by the National Child Care Information Center. |
| The document is for informational purposes only. No official endorsement of any practice, publication, program, or individual by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families, the Child Care Bureau, or the National Child Care Information Center is intended or is to be inferred. For additional information on this or related topics, please contact the National Child Care Information Center at (800) 616-2242 or info@nccic.org. |
