Session: The Intersection of Child Care and Employment: Recent Trends, Persistent Challenges (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

Over two-thirds of mothers are employed during the early years of their children's lives. Research demonstrates that labor market attachment during these early years of parenting is predictive of future labor market involvement and earnings. As important and fulfilling as employment can be for mothers, it also complicates caregiving, especially because mothers are disproportionately their children's primary caregiver. Thus, nonparental child-care arrangements are necessary for parents to successfully combine paid employment with caregiving responsibilities. In addition to supporting parental work, high-quality child-care arrangements can be instrumental to children's healthy development. The capacity of the child-care sector to serve these dual goals depends on how well child-care options align with parental work schedules, family budgets, and preferred caregiving arrangements; as well as the degree to which they serve children's developmental needs. The four papers in this symposium address unique aspects of this work-care challenge.

The first paper investigates whether universal preschool facilitates labor market attachment among mothers of preschool-aged children. Particular attention is paid to the equity impacts of a policy that extended free universal preschool to 3- and 4-year olds in New York City. Findings demonstrate that there are important benefits of universal preschool for maternal employment, and especially so for mothers with the fewest resources, suggesting the equity impact of the policy.

The next two papers address the child-care arrangements of working parents whose schedules occur during nonstandard hours, when research demonstrates there are fewer child-care options. In the second paper, the authors consider how mothers' work schedules shape children's participation in center-based child-care programs. Specifically, the paper examines changes in this association over time, during a period of rapid increase in public investments in child-care, especially for preschoolers. The findings show that mothers' nonstandard schedules have become less of a barrier to 3-5-year-old children's participation in center-based programs over time, whereas this improvement is not evident for 0-2-year-olds. The third paper examines more closely the timing and type of child-care that parents use during nonstandard hours, and how these patterns vary across parental socioeconomic status. Findings show important income differences in the coverage and type of child-care that parents use during nonstandard hours. In particular, while home-based care is most common across income groups during nonstandard hours, there is significantly more center care used during these hours for higher income families, suggesting inequitable access for low-income families.

The fourth paper extends the question of nonstandard work schedules from child-care to parental involvement in children's schools. Results show that nonstandard work timing is not necessarily a barrier to school involvement, whereas flexible schedules appear to facilitate parental participation in school-based activities. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering both timing and flexibility in studies of work schedules.

Two discussants will consider how the study results further knowledge about child-care as a work support and a tool of child development in the context of changing labor and child-care markets. The discussants will also consider the specific policy implications related to both work and caregiving, as well school-based interventions.