In the U.S., licensed child care is funded through a mostly private market, constraining the supply of accessible high-quality care. Combine this with variable parental needs and preferences and it is easy to see how alignment is not always achievable. Lower-income families in particular face constraints in securing care that is strong on multiple care dimensions of affordability, quality, and availability when, where, and for whom they need it.
Some parents confront forced choices or tradeoffs among aspects of care. This study aimed to understand the tradeoffs parents make in selecting the best care arrangements for their family.
Between October 2019 and January 2020, the researchers interviewed 67 mothers in Massachusetts whose child(ren) had not yet started kindergarten. They worked to understand the ways in which tradeoffs occurred and the implications of those tradeoffs by asking about mothers’ initial preferences and needs when first considering child care options relative to the choices they made.
They found that 1) tradeoffs occurred along the multiple dimensions of care, 2) mothers used strategies to mitigate the consequences of tradeoffs, 3) tradeoffs varied in level of severity, 4) the more accessible the care, the less severe the tradeoff, and 5) tradeoffs varied in meaningful ways. These findings underscore the utility in applying a tradeoffs lens to assessing child care policy and practice in furtherance of equitable solutions.
