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Child‐Care Subsidies: Do They Impact the Quality of Care Children Experience?
Author(s) -
Johnson Anna D.,
Ryan Rebecca M.,
BrooksGunn Jeanne
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.1780.x
Subject(s) - subsidy , receipt , quality (philosophy) , child care , government (linguistics) , head start , early childhood education , business , psychology , medicine , nursing , economics , developmental psychology , philosophy , linguistics , accounting , epistemology , market economy
The federal child‐care subsidy program represents one of the government’s largest investments in early care and education, but little is known about whether it increases low‐income children’s access to higher quality child care. This study used newly available nationally representative data on 4‐year‐old children ( N = 750) to investigate whether subsidy receipt elevates child‐care quality. Results indicate that subsidy recipients use higher quality care compared to nonrecipients who use no other publicly funded care, but lower quality care compared to nonrecipients who instead use Head Start or public pre‐k. Findings suggest that subsidies may have the potential to enhance care quality but that parents who use subsidies are not accessing the highest quality care available to low‐income families.