Illinois Nontraditional-Hour Child Care Study (INCCS)

 

Summary

Ensuring equitable access to high-quality child care for all families necessitates attention to the intersections of income, race, and employment in shaping the child care needs of families. Significant proportions of families with young children living in disinvested communities work nontraditional hours and need child care during these hours. Specifically, national research finds that young children in families experiencing poverty, families led by a single parent, or families that identify as Black are disproportionately likely to have a parent working a NTH schedule. Yet the early care and education field has focused almost exclusively on child care provision during daytime, weekday hours with limited attention to quality, supply, and workforce experiences during NTHs. In fact, the majority of NTH child care takes place in unpaid relative and nonrelative child care settings.

This four-year project implements a sequenced set of research activities to yield new knowledge about the core pillars of NTH child care:

1. demand
2. supply
3. quality, and
4. workforce sustainability

This research will inform IDHS on policy development around increasing the availability of high-quality nontraditional hour child care, a top priority for the state and a focus of new state legislation. The research will also inform a national audience of policymakers, program administrators, and practitioners around how to best implement, support, and sustain nontraditional hour child care options that equitably meet the needs and strengths of families, children, and providers. Additionally, the 2024 CCDF Final Rule includes requirements that states address access to NTH care for CCDF-eligible children and families in a variety of different ways, making this work particularly timely.

The INCCS project is a collaboration between Erikson Institute’s Home-Based Child Care Research Initiative, the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, and Illinois Action for Children. All products will be shared with our state partner, the Illinois Department of Human Services. This project is supported by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award (Grant #: 90YE0285) totaling $1,600,000 with 100 percent funded by ACF/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACF/HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit the ACF website, Administrative and National Policy Requirements.

Research Questions

• What do we know about demand and use of NTH CC nationally and in IL?
• What is the prevalence and characteristics of NTH CC supply nationally and in IL?
• What NTH CC quality dimensions matter most for equitable child/family outcomes?
• What are the working conditions in NTH CC and what factors contribute to the sustainability of the NTH CC workforce?