Finding Good Infant-Toddler Child Care: Challenges and Strategies for Low-Income Families

Many low-income families face difficulties in arranging, paying for, and maintaining child care for infants and toddlers. Finding good-quality care can be especially challenging. A new report highlights findings from an in-depth study of collaborative community initiatives to improve low-income families' access to good-quality care for infants and toddlers. An earlier report looks at barriers to accessing affordable, good-quality care as well as strategies for overcoming these barriers. 

The study documented the experiences of low-income families—particularly TANF and working poor families—in accessing good-quality care for this age group. It also illuminated strategies that communities use to (1) improve the quality of formal and informal care, and (2) help families pay for and maintain good-quality care.

Our partner in this study, funded by the Child Care Bureau of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. The study included two phases:

• Focus groups and discussions with Early Head Start program directors and managers, child care providers, state and local child care and welfare administrators, resource and referral agency directors, representatives from community collaborations, and key staff from the Office of Head Start and the Child Care Bureau
  
  
• In-depth case studies with a small but diverse set of communities working for at least two years on infant-toddler child care issues and developing strategies for overcoming barriers
  
  
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