Facts In Action

Due to the high cost of child care, employed parents with low or moderate incomes often need help paying for care. A recent report from The Urban Institute based on data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families examined how all families manage the high cost of child care, and what types of help they receive with their expenses.

At least 29 percent of families with children under 13 receive some form of non-tax help from: relatives; the government and other organizations; employers; nonresident parents; and other individuals. The types of help families receive most often are free care from relatives and free or subsidized care from a government agency or private organization.

For approximately 20 percent of the families who get help, the help they receive covers the entire cost of child care expenses. Many of these families have a relative care for their children without payment, or they participate in a program that does not require a parental payment. The other 80 percent of families who receive help still have some expenses.

Low-income families are most likely to get help — particularly families below the poverty line, single-parent families, families with some welfare history, and families with children younger than 5. The higher percentage of families getting help in this income category is largely due to the higher incidence of government or private organization assistance.

However, child care remains a major expense for many families — particularly low-income families. Low-income families that pay for child care have a lower monthly child care bill, on average, but it amounts to a higher percentage of their earnings than is the case for higher-income families.

Waiting lists for government subsidies in many states are evidence that more low-income families would use assistance if it was available. Child care assistance would increase these parents' employment options, and would help them afford higher-quality programs.

Source:
Getting Help with Child Care Expenses, L. Giannarelli, S. Adelman, and S. Schmidt, The Urban Institute, 2003.

For more information:
contact: The Urban Institute, 2100 M Street NW, Washington DC, 20037 by phone at (202) 833-7200, by email at paffairs@ui.urban.org, or online at http://www.urban.org.

Facts in Action, March/April 2003