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Lack of Adequate and Affordable forLow-Income Families in Wichita, Kansas
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The demand for good-quality and affordable child care has increased in the wake of welfare reform, as many low-income families have entered the workforce and confronted difficulties arranging, paying for and sustaining the continuity of child care. Infant-toddler child care is scarce in most communities across the state, particularly in low-income communities. It is also expensive. Even with the increased availability of child care subsidies, many low-income families face difficulties paying for care. And, although the quality of child care can be a critical influence on the well being of infants and toddlers, finding good-quality infant-toddler child care can be especially challenging for low-income families. Low-income families face many barriers in finding and maintaining adequate child care, which affects their employment. The problems facing welfare families as they arrange child care-low wages, nonstandard hours or changing hours, and inflexible schedules-also confront working poor families who do not receive welfare. “Three features of child care appear to influence the employment of low-income parents: (1) the availability of child care, because young children cannot be left unsupervised; (2) the cost of child care, which makes employment less attractive because the earnings are effectively reduced by the cost of care; and (3) the quality of the available care.” (Kisker and Ross 102) Limited choices due to cost or location constraints lead to low-income families settling on poorer quality child care arrangements. Consistent with their limited range of child care options, poor single mothers are less satisfied with the child care they use than other mothers. Parents and professionals have advanced various definitions of quality, but most stress that high-caliber programs ensure that children are safe, healthy and appropriately stimulated. Good programs provide responsive care by consistent, well-qualified caregivers, allowing the children to form secure attachments to nurturing adults. They offer engaging, appropriate activities for young children in settings that aid healthy growth. Quality child care also takes into account the strengths and needs of the families and communities. Poor parents may define a threshold for the quality of their children’s child care arrangements in terms of a basic level of safety and trustworthiness, and discontinue their work-related activities if they cannot find and maintain arrangements that they believe exceeds their threshold. According to the article “Welfare to Work: Analysis and Recommendations”, research on the quality of child care in the United States indicates that parents’ fears are not unfounded: some 12% of the centers and 25% of private homes caring for children were judged by researchers to be inadequate and even harmful to children. (Larner, Terman, Behrman 11-12) The fears of mothers with infants are especially intense, since their babies cannot complain if they are mistreated during the day. Quality of care may influence employment in several ways: parents may be reluctant to leave their child in a low-quality, unsafe environment or with adults who do not provide a stimulating environment for their child. This may be a particular problem for lower-income families, who have more limited choices of providers. In contrast, a safe, warm, stimulating environment may encourage employment and longer hours of work.
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