Child Care Subsidies: Work and Child Development for Healthy Families
Skip to main content
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • Our Vision
    • Our Vision Overview
    • Why Health Equity
    • Focus Areas
    • Measuring RWJF Progress
  • Grants
    • Grants Overview
    • Active Funding Opportunities
    • Awarded Grants
    • Grantee Stories
    • Grant Process
    • Grantee Resources
  • Insights
    • Insights Overview
    • Blog
    • Our Research
    • Advocacy And Policy
  • About RWJF
    • About RWJF Overview
    • Our Guiding Principles
    • How We Work
    • Impact Investments
    • Staff And Trustees
    • Newsroom
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
Find A Grant

Child Care Subsidies: Supporting Work and Child Development for Healthy Families

Brief Apr-01-2020 | Adams G, Henly R | 2-min read
  1. Insights
  2. Our Research
  3. Child Care Subsidies: Supporting Work and Child Development for Healthy Families
Download brief
Head Start- Trauma Smart
Kansas City,Head Start- Trauma Smart
Kansas City

Nonparental child care is a key support for working parents and can contribute to long-term child health and development. Yet high-quality, affordable care that meets parents’ needs can be hard to find.

What’s the Issue?

In the United States, while parents are at work or in school, their children (many school-age, but the majority of those younger than age 6) spend time in child care. Lower-income family members—who often have irregular and hard-to-predict work schedules—find it especially challenging to obtain high-quality, affordable child care. These families can rely on the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a joint federal and state public child-care program that supports child care activities. CCDBG funding helps families with low incomes pay for care, primarily through vouchers or certificates that parents can use to defray some or all of the costs. Parental choice is a fundamental tenet of the CCDBG, as policymakers trust parents—rather than the state—to determine what child care best meets their family’s circumstances.

The program served 1.3 million children in 2018, which is only 15 percent of those who are eligible under federal law. The re-authorization in 2014 of the CCDBG brought changes that emphasized the quality of child care and facilitating greater access to assistance for families. With limited service hours available in formal child care, the market fails to serve many low-income families, who work outside of daytime, weekday hours—which forces families to disproportionately use home-based arrangements (especially informal caregivers). An unintended consequence of the re-authorization changes is the challenge of how states can support parental choice while ensuring safety and high quality across all settings. Other reasons for the shortfall in families that utilize CCDBG could be insufficient funding; state eligibility rules; policy priorities; lack of program awareness; and bureaucratic problems.

What’s Next

Research generally indicates strong labor market effects of the subsidies, with several studies showing a positive relationship between subsidy use and employment—especially full-time employment. A recent study also suggests that subsidy use is related to higher educational attainment among mothers with young children. Furthermore, a study found young children who had used subsidized, licensed centers and home-based arrangements demonstrated higher reading and math scores in third grade and fewer school absences in junior high school compared to children who had not used subsidized care.

The roles of income, income support policies, and quality early care are critical to developing and sustaining health and well-being of children and families. With a formal child-care market that is not well- aligned with the realities of today’s low-wage labor market, the CCDBG faces challenges in helping low-income families access high-quality, affordable, and convenient care.

The authors recommend that funding be made available to states to use “a multi-pronged strategy that focuses support on access and quality in both formal and informal settings—rather than singularly prioritizing centers...[expanding] equitable access to high-quality care for all low-income families.”

Accomplishing this goal will require a comprehensive approach focused on access and quality, outreach to child-care providers in home-based and formal settings, and a significant expansion of federal and state funding.

The brief summarizes a best-case scenario: States will make their systems more family friendly by fully implementing strategies to simplify subsidy application and retention; support access to high-quality care by ensuring providers receive sufficient rates; promote quality by targeting training, technical assistance, and incentives to the full range of providers. It is essential to support equitable supply and access for priority populations—such as parents working nontraditional hours; infants and toddlers; children living in rural areas; and children with special needs.

Related Content

Coronavirus Disease

As coronavirus spreads, the bill for our public health failures is due

Richard Besser, MD, president and CEO of RWJF and former acting director of the CDC, pens an Op-Ed in The Washington Post on the health equity issues raised by the Coronavirus, such as paid leave.

Brief
Bonnie CLAC is an innovative program that makes cars affordable for the working poor. This results in more than just lower payments. It can lead to more informed health care decisions, reduced stress, and a healthy sense of control.

Paid Family Leave Policies and Population Health

Evidence suggests that the introduction of paid family leave for up to one year may yield child and maternal health benefits in the short and long run.

2-min read

Social Determinants of Health Policy and Law
Brief
The Tobacco Policy Change program supported Houston Communities for Safe Indoor Air (HCSIA), a grass-roots advocacy coalition of African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American and Native-American communities, to get a city ordinance against indoor smoking in public places. Tobacco Policy Change

Precarious Work Schedules and Population Health

Unstable work schedules are associated with poor health outcomes in adults, complexity and informality in child-care arrangements and behavioral problems in children.

2-min read

Social Determinants of Health Policy and Law
  • About this Grant
SHOW MORE
+

SHARE

Subscribe to receive Funding Alerts & more

Explore the latest in reflection and research from subject matter experts at RWJF and our wide network of partners.

Email address already subscribed. Please check your inbox to manage your subscriptions.

Subscribed!

Thank you. You are now subscribed.

Tell us what type of content you want to receive.

Be informed with our weekly newsletter updating you with relevant news and research around a Culture of Health, as well as the latest funding opportunities.

Get funded by RWJF: Receive notifications when new funding opportunities are released.

Receive monthly updates on RWJF-sponsored research that informs many robust health policy debates on Capitol Hill, covering topics like health equity, improving access to quality healthcare, equitable housing, and more.

Shop talk for researchers. This monthly newsletter covers research news and opportunities from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Sometimes we have news, announcements or opportunities that don't quite fit the subscription parameters above. If you're interested, we'll send you this information under "There's more...". *If you've indicated you are an EU resident, we will only send these communications if you intentionally check this box.

Yes! I want to tell you more about myself and receive personalized communications in the future.

Area(s) Of Interest

Which profession or pursuit best describes you?

Unsubscribe

Stop receiving all emails from RWJF

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
  • CONTACT RWJF

    50 College Road East

    Princeton, NJ 08540-6614

     

    US Toll Free: (877) 843-7953

    International: +1 (609) 627-6000

  • MANAGE YOUR GRANTS

    MyRWJF Login

    • Twitter link
    • Facebook link
    • LinkedIn link
    • YouTube link

  • Our Vision
    • Our Vision Overview
    • Why Health Equity
    • Focus Areas
    • Measuring RWJF Progress
  • Grants
    • Grants Overview
    • Active Funding Opportunities
    • Awarded Grants
    • Grantee Stories
    • Grant Process
    • Grantee Resources
  • Insights
    • Insights Overview
    • Blog
    • Our Research
    • Advocacy And Policy
  • About RWJF
    • About RWJF Overview
    • Our Guiding Principles
    • How We Work
    • Impact Investments
    • Staff And Trustees
    • Newsroom
    • Careers
    • Contact Us

©2001- 

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All Rights Reserved. 

 

  • Manage Email
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms and Conditions