Child Trends- Child care experiences of low-income parents

August 1, 2013  Subscribe New Research  Child care experiences of low-income parents The Maryland Child Care Choices study was a two-year longitudinal survey of parents who were applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in 2011. Four resulting briefs, authored by our early childhood team, highlight parents' decision-making process in choosing care; expenses and financial support for child care; and maternal depression among applicants for Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA). Our researchers found, for example, that parents living below the poverty line were more likely to cite trust, as compared to quality, as their top priority in choosing care. LEARN MORE Trend Lines Blog  Depression, poverty, and parenting Other research has noted that low-income parents, especially single mothers, have higher rates of depression than their higher-income peers. In a recent Child Trends study, we found this to be the case for more than half of a group of low-income mothers in Maryland, contrasted with an estimated fewer than seven percent of all adults nationally. Depressive symptoms were also more likely to be severe for moms with lower incomes. Vanessa Harbin and Samanatha Goldhagen of Child Trends spell out how depression can affect parenting, in their new blog post. Are the children of these mothers a lost cause? And, what are states doing to help? READ THE BLOG New Research Wars are taking their toll on children at home During the Vietnam War, only 15 percent of U.S. service members had children. Today, 44 percent do. What are their needs? Home Front Alert: The Risks Facing Young Children in Military Families, a report by David Murphey, a senior research scientist at Child Trends, drew national attention last week for its timely reminder that while a return from deployment can be a happy time for service members' families, parental deployments can be stressful for young children. When high levels of stress are unaddressed, the repercussions for children's development can be long-lasting. Watch a video interview with David and Child Trends' President Carol Emig to learn more. READ COVERAGE BY THE WASHINGTON POST Resources Grad Nation's new resource for k-12 education The Grad Nation campaign, launched in 2010 by America's Promise Alliance, is a collaborative movement whose aim is to raise high school graduation rates in America. Child Trends is pleased to be a content partner for Grad Nation's new online resource center. That means we provide reports from our work on early childhood development, mentoring, family engagement and more, so users can learn about, connect into and act on behalf of the Grad Nation movement. VIEW THE RESOURCE CENTER Free Webinar Federal Perspectives on Family-Provider Relationships in Early Childhood Programs Representatives from the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, and various agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will present an overview of each program's guiding principles and frameworks related to family-provider relationships, the manner in which flexibility is encouraged through federal standards and regulations, and the innovations they are seeing in the field. Wednesday, August 7, 2:30 - 4:00pm, ET REGISTER NOW Child Trends on the Road This week, we join the meeting of the QRIS (quality rating and improvement systems) National Learning Network. Prior to the national meeting, several Child Trends researchers led sessions at the State and Territory Administrators Meeting, to include more than 300 state agency staff from state departments of human services and education, which administer the Child Care and Development Fund. We've also convened a meeting of the Quality Initiatives Research and Evaluation Consortium (INQUIRE), which is a group of leading researchers working on state quality improvement initiatives.   QRIS MEETING SITE Copyright © 2013 by Child Trends, Inc.

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