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9. Findings and Next Steps
Pages 260-280

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From page 260...
... However, overall, we found that the scientific data in this area are limited and do not provide a comprehensive understanding of who these policies affect and the extent to which they support the well-being of children in working families. Our findings and array of policy options are therefore focused on public policies.
From page 261...
... These changes in maternal labor force participation are in part a result of the fact that programs that provide income support to lowincome families with children have increasingly emphasized and required parental employment. This trend is particularly striking for low-income families with a single parent, in which 55.5 percent of low-income children resided in 2000.
From page 262...
... Currently no national or state laws or policies require firms to offer paid family leave, although five states-California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island -- have temporary disability insurance programs that typically cover six to eight weeks of paid leave for maternity disability for qualifying workers. California has recently extended its program to cover individuals who take time off work to care for a new child (or to care for a sick or injured family member)
From page 263...
... Children The quality of child care has implications for children's development, but the relation between participation in child care and children's development depends on such variables as the activities they experience in care, the quality of their interactions with their caregivers, the type of setting (i.e., day care center, family day care home, relative care) , and the amount of time in care.
From page 264...
... on a diverse sample of children of varying ages in different types of arrangements (centers, child care homes, in-home nannies, grandparents) observed that very poor quality and very high quality are relatively uncommon, with the mode being care that was categorized as "fair" and in which positive caregiving was "somewhat uncharacteristic." Despite the growth in public supports, many publicly funded early care and education programs which are intended to provide developmentally beneficial nonparental care for young children, such as Head Start and Early Head Start, also do not reach all eligible children.
From page 265...
... Thus, subsidies from these two programs can be used to purchase child care services of low or mediocre quality. In contrast, Head Start, Title I, and state prekindergarten programs must meet standards intended to ensure that the services provided are of high developmental quality.
From page 266...
... POLICY OPTIONS A primary goal for public policy should be to improve the quality of care for children and adolescents in working families.
From page 267...
... Public support for high-quality care for poor children may be justified on the grounds that, even if benefits accrue only to the poor children who receive the better care, this society believes that these children should have opportunities enjoyed by others that would otherwise not be available to them. The evidence on the external benefits of high-quality child care is limited, but the evidence available (from evaluations of programs such as the Perry Preschool Project, Abecedarian, Early Head Start National Evaluation)
From page 268...
... ; extending full-day, full-year services to all children ages 3 to 4 years currently served only part-day, part-year would cost $2.5 billion; extending full-day, fullyear services to all eligible children ages 3 to 4 years who currently are not served at all or are served only part-day, part-year would cost an additional $7.8 billion; and serving all eligible children ages birth to age 5 not currently served would cost an additional $14.0 billion for part-day, part-year services and an additional $25.2 billion for full-day, full-year services.1 It 1 Currie (2001: 221) reports that in 1998 the cost of part-day Head Start services for 34 weeks per year was $5,021 per child, and the cost of full-day, year-round service was $9,030.
From page 269...
... If all these children were enrolled in publicly funded prekindergarten, the assume that three-quarters of 5-year-old children are in kindergarten and therefore not eligible for Head Start. Finally, we estimate that 0.870 million children in total were served by Head Start in calendar year 2000.
From page 270...
... Current spending $6.67 billion Cost estimate for this policy option The costs in addition to the current budget to expand or enhance services would vary depending upon who is served and by what level of services: · Full-day, full-year services provided to all eligible children ages birth to age 5 not currently served: $25.2 billion. · Part-day, part-year services provided to all eligible children ages birth to age 5 not currently served: $14.0 billion.
From page 271...
... Policy Option: Expand child care subsidies through quality-related vouchers. A relatively new concept in child care policy would provide vouchers with a reimbursement rate that increases with the developmental quality of child care purchased from accredited child care centers or family day care homes for children from birth to 12.
From page 272...
... The value of the voucher would be reduced by one-sixth for families with income between one and two times the poverty line, reduced by half for families with income between two and four times the poverty line, and would not provide any reimbursement for families with income over four times the poverty line. High-quality care defined as care with an ECERS score of 5.5 or greater would cost roughly $6,000.
From page 273...
... Because after-school programs rely heavily on cash grants for development and maintenance, and because developing high-quality programs requires a substantial time commitment and program continuity, the funding support from CCLC should allow for the possibility for previous grantees to apply for continuation of funds. Cost estimate: To fund all grantees in 2000 that submitted high-quality applications (at the amount of funds requested)
From page 274...
... Another way to provide paid leave is via extensions of existing TDI programs. As discussed earlier, five states currently have TDI programs that provide paid leave for maternity disability, along with other types of leave for disability.
From page 275...
... With regard to means-tested benefits, two states-Minnesota and Montana -- currently have at-home infant child care programs, which provide cash benefits to low-income parents with a child under the age of 1. These programs differ from welfare in that, while means-tested, they are limited to families with a child under the age of 1 (and they do not involve work or other activity requirements)
From page 276...
... Policy Option: Expand coverage of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The Family and Medical Leave Act could be expanded to cover activities and individuals not currently eligible (for example, attending meetings at children's schools, taking children to routine medical or dental visits)
From page 277...
... Ideally, such data would be longitudinal and would include assessments of child health and development, in order to develop a better understanding of the effects of child care quality on children's development, school progress, and health. One model would be a telephone survey like the 1990 Profile of Child Care Settings to collect data on structural quality from a large representative sample of centers and family day care homes, supplemented by in-person interviews and observation of a subsample of the survey to measure process quality.
From page 278...
... during the summer months using data from the 1999 National Survey of Families highlights marked differences in the use of structured enrichment activities and programs, hours spent in supervised care by relatives, and hours spent in self-care, as well as the use and cost of paid child care during the summer compared with the school year. The extent to which child care arrangements during the summer impact child adjustment, however, is not elucidated.
From page 279...
... . There have been no experiments testing particular policy options, such as making the dependent care tax credit refundable.
From page 280...
... The committee has identified some promising policy options for action by policy makers. These policies should receive serious consideration.


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