Which low-income parents select child-care?

Public spending on child-care has grown steadily over the past two decades, flowing to parents in the form of portable vouchers, especially in the wake of the 1996 welfare reforms. At the same time, Head Start and state preschool programs continue to allocate funds directly to neighborhood and school organizations. Little is known about how diverse low-income parents enter this mixed market of child-care providers, then select from among centers and after-school programs, licensed day-care homes, or individual caregivers. Do parents' attributes, along with participation in welfare, affect whether they enter the market or instead rely on nonmarket caregivers, and what type of care they select? To what extent does the local availability of programs condition parental choice? We address these questions, drawing from interviews with 1974 employed parents moving from welfare to work in three California counties. We found that married parents, Latinos, Vietnamese, and non-English speakers, in general, were less likely to select a center or formal after-program, instead relying on home-based providers. Parents with higher school attainment, working longer hours, and earning more were more likely to choose a center or after-school organization. The ages and number of children in the home were related to selection patterns. Non-English speaking parents residing in neighborhoods with more abundant enrollment slots in child-care centers were more likely to choose such a program. We discuss implications for how we theorize about diverse poor families making choices in mixed markets, or being allocated to organized child-care opportunities across variable neighborhoods.