elements of child care supply and demand · of child care supply and demand 2005 report on child...

Elements of Child Care Supply and Demand

2005 Report on Child Care in Cook County

FY 2005 (July 1, 2004–June 30, 2005)Prepared by the Research Department of Illinois Action for Children. A report funded in partby The MacArthur Foundation and the Illinois Department of Human Services

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

INTRODUCTION: FAMILIES AND CHILD CARE IN COOK COUNTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

SECTION I. FAMILY DILEMMA: CHILD CARE AFFORDABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

A. The Cost of Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

B. What Percent of Income is Reasonable to Spend on Child Care? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

C. Helping Parents Meet the Cost of Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

D. Child Care Affordability with Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

E. The Use of Illinois Child Care Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

F. Trends in Child Care Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

SECTION II. FAMILY DILEMMA: ACCESS TO AVAILABLE CHILD CARE SLOTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

A. Child Care Providers in Cook County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

B. Providers and Slots by Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

C. Center Slots by Child Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

D. Referrals Given to Parents in 2005 by Child Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

SECTION III. FAMILY DILEMMA: FINDING CHILD CARE THAT MATCHES THE FAMILY’S SCHEDULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

A. Providers Offering Child Care During Non-Traditional Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

B. Referrals Given to Parents in Need of Non-Traditional Hours of Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

SECTION IV. FAMILY DILEMMA: FINDING THE RIGHT PROVIDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

A. What Do Children Need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

B. Special Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

SECTION V. PUBLIC DILEMMA: WHO NEEDS CHILD CARE? WHO NEEDS SUPPORT? . . . . . . . .26

A. Child Population, Poverty and Low Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

B. Children With All Working Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

C. Children Eligible For But Without Child Care Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

SECTION VI. CHILD CARE CHOICES OF COOK COUNTY FAMILIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: The Six Cook County Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Appendix 2: The Demand for Child Care—Basic Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Appendix 3: Sources for Data on Child Care Providers in Cook County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

GLOSSARY OF TERMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Contents

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2005 Report on Child Care in Cook County: Elements of Child Care Supply and Demand

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Executive Summary

Finding the right child care is oneof the most important decisionsthat a parent faces. When par-ents have more options, the likeli-hood is greater that they will suc-ceed in finding a provider bestsuited for their child. It is not adecision to be taken lightly. Achild's caregiver not only keeps achild safe, but also spends a sig-nificant portion of the day helpingthat child develop social, intellec-tual and physical skills, as well aspersonality, emotional stabilityand self-esteem, all critical for achild’s success in school and inlife. Having access to high qualitychild care is key to the well-beingof families with children, and par-ticularly those children whoseparents work.

This report discusses the range ofchild care options available tofamilies in Cook County, frominformal relative, friend or neigh-bor care, to more formal licensedhome-based care, to the largerchild care center. Within thesegeneral categories, each individ-ual program has its own unique

combination of characteristicsthat parents may find attrac-tive—perhaps an especially warmand experienced caregiver, a well-developed curriculum, a caregiverwith experience with a particulardisability, or a colorful, invitingfacility. Ideally a family's ultimatedecision will be based on the pro-gram's quality and ability to meetthe child's individual needs.

Yet, parents still face limited childcare options in Cook County, par-ticularly in middle and low-incomefamilies. Most significantly, thehigh cost of center or licensed homeprograms discourages many fami-lies from using otherwise attrac-tive types of care. Specifically:

• The costs of some types of childcare in Cook County haveincreased by up to 45 percentwhile the national consumerprice index grew by 13 percentduring the same time period.

• Last year, child care centercosts averaged between $120-$237 per week; and $107-$179

per week for licensed homecare (depending on region andage of the child).

• Families in Cook County mustpay a high percentage of theirincome to afford child care. Inmany cases, child care is justas expensive as rent and moreexpensive than tuition and feesat a state college or university.

For example:

• A family of 3 earning the 2004 median Chicago incomeof $38,565 would expect to pay24 percent of that before taxeson the care of an infant or tod-dler in an area child care cen-ter. For care in a licensed homesetting, about 16 percent.

• A family earning the 2004median Cook County incomeof $54,034 would expect to payan average of 19 percent oftheir annual compensation foran infant in a child care cen-ter. If this family also had a 4-year-old in center care, they

would need to spend almost athird of their income on childcare costs alone.

• While licensed home care isless expensive, the same familywould still need to pay 11 to13 percent of its pre-tax takehome on care for an infant andan additional 10 to 12 percentfor each preschool age child.

• If we assume that “affordable”child care means spending nomore than 10 percent of thefamily income on child care,large numbers of Cook Countyfamilies can afford onlylicense-exempt care (family,friend or neighbor care).

Illinois Child Care Assistancehelps about 50,000 families inCook County each month (ornearly 90,000 per year). It allowssome families to afford center andlicensed home programs. Never-theless, not all families who needassistance qualify for it, andsometimes even with assistance,

families still find these child caresettings too costly.

Families also face limited childcare openings in their home orwork community. This is particu-larly the case for parents seekinginfant care. Fewer center slotsare available for infants than forall other age groups.

In addition to the challenge offinding child care openings, somefamilies cannot find them at theright times.

• Over one-third of Illinoisanswho work full-time and over60 percent who work part-timework outside the traditionalMonday through Friday day-time schedule.

• Only two percent of child care centers offer care during

evening hours, while merely 1percent provide weekend care.

• Over one-third of child carehomes offer some eveninghours, but only 7 percent offercare on the weekends.

Sometimes concerns about costand availability take precedenceover the quality of care in aparent’s decision regarding childcare. In turn this can compro-mise a child’s well-being and aparent’s peace of mind while thatchild is in care. It is our hopethat this report will serve as auseful guide and resource to advo-cates and policy makers workingto improve the accessibility ofquality child care to all familiesin Cook County and the State ofIllinois who want it.

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About one million children underthe age of 13 live in Cook County.A large proportion, and perhaps amajority, of these children receiveregular care from someone otherthan their parents or guardians:from another relative, a friend or neighbor, a family child carehome, a child care center, or apark district or other after schoolprogram.

This 2005 Report of Child Care in Cook County discusses childcare and children of Cook Countyin the context of their families’employment and economic status,where in Cook County they liveand seek child care, what type of care is available to them andwhat type they use. It reports theexperiences of some parents inseeking referrals to child careproviders, examines the problemsand dilemmas they face in choos-ing a provider and the compro-mises they make.

The 2005 Report also examinesCook County’s child care pro-viders whose work we can docu-ment. It presents the differentsettings in which child care takesplace, the number of children ineach type of care and the feesthat parents pay different types of providers.

A Note on Supply and Demand

While we subtitle this report“Elements of Child Care Supplyand Demand,” we want to cautionreaders that the factors that deter-mine the supply of and demandfor child care are numerous andcomplex. We cannot simply com-pare the number of child care slotsand the number of children inneed of care. Appendix 2 providesa detailed discussion of the vari-ous elements that influence bothchild care supply and demandand explains why an effectiveanalysis can be so complex.

What Types of Child Care are Available?

A family’s success in findingquality child care is based onmany factors including the fami-ly’s location, a child’s age, thehours of care needed, the amountthe family can afford to pay, achild’s specific needs and theparent’s particular preferences.Assuming for a moment that fam-ilies can access all types of childcare, let’s look at their availableoptions.

Many families only use parentalcare. Either one parent stayshome to care for the children, orthe parents stagger their sched-ules so one is home to care for thechildren while the other works,goes to school or fulfills otherresponsibilities.

Parents who need or want to lookbeyond parental care can decidebetween putting their child in ahome-based setting or in a largerchild care center. If they like theidea of a home setting, they may

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Families and Child Care in Cook County

Introduction

EXAMINING COOK COUNTY CHILD CARE BY REGION

Throughout this Report we divide Cook County into six regions to show how geo-graphic differences can affect parents’ success in finding child care.

CHICAGO SUBURBAN COOK COUNTY

1) North and Northwest 4) North and Northwest 2) West and Central 5) West 3) South and Southwest 6) South and Southwest

See Appendix 1 for more detailed definitions of these regions.

take their child to the home ofsomeone they know well, such asa family member, friend or neigh-bor, or someone they discoveredthrough word of mouth orthrough a referral service. Theymight also choose a caregiver whocan provide care in the child’shome, as a nanny does.

Many home-based child careproviders, especially those whoprovide care as an on-going pro-fession, choose to become licensed.This means they are regulated bythe Illinois Department ofChildren and Family Services(DCFS) and their local licensingagency if one exists. Throughoutthis report we refer to these care-givers as licensed home providers,and we refer to those withoutlicenses as license-exempt homeproviders or as family, friend orneighbor care. (See the glossaryfor detailed definitions of theseterms.)

Parents also have the option oftaking their child to a child carecenter. While most of these facili-ties are licensed by DCFS, certaincenters are exempt from beinglicensed, including those based inschools or affiliated with religiousgroups. Center care might includeall-day child care programs,before and after-school programs(such as those provided by park

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JENNIFER ACOSTA AND HER FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON

Jennifer is a single mother who works full-time. She just obtained a steady jobthat pays her just over minimum wage,$6.85 per hour or $14,248 each year.Jennifer lives with her mother who is agreat help in raising her son, but who also works full-time during the day at aminimum wage job. Jennifer needs full-day child care. Her income makes her soneligible for free early education programssuch as the Pre-Kindergarten classoffered at the nearby public elementaryschool, but this program is only 21/2hours each day. To take advantage of free Pre-Kindergarten, Jennifer wouldneed to find a child care center with aPre-Kindergarten program on site or aprovider who can transport her son to and from the elementary school’s Pre-Kindergarten program.

DENISE AND IVAN WILLIAMS AND THEIR 10-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER

Denise and Ivan both work full-time.Together they work almost 3,200 daytimehours each year in one full-time job and twopart-time jobs. They earn about $32,500each year, too much for a family of threeto receive Illinois Child Care Assistance.(The maximum allowed is $30,369.)

Although they have some relatives nearby,none can provide care for their daughterduring their daytime work hours. A niceneighbor offered to provide care at $100per week ($2.50 per hour), or about 16 percent of their income. The neighboris sometimes ill, however, or must take herown child to the doctor. During thosetimes Denise or Ivan have to stay homefrom work to care for their daughter.

They realize that if they quit the mostirregular of their part-time jobs, they wouldnot lose much. Their income would dropby $2,308 to below $30,369, makingthem eligible for Illinois Child CareAssistance. By quitting that job, the familywould gain in Child Care Assistance muchof what they would lose in income, andalso gain about 18 hours of free time eachmonth. They are considering doing this,but are uncomfortable about it. Insteadthey hope to find better full-time jobs.

REGINA THOMAS AND HER 3-YEAR-OLD AND 7-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTERS

Regina has a full-time job as a retail salesmanager earning $59,000 per year. Thisincome is well above the median income of families with children in CookCounty, which is about $54,000. Regina’sjob, however, requires her to work after-noons and evenings. While she is happythat she can take her 7-year-old to schooleach morning and spend the day with her3-year-old, she regrets that she is notthere for them after school or in theevenings. She is in search of a providerwho can help her older daughter withhomework in a comfortable setting. She isalso exploring ways she can begin tosocialize her three-year-old to get herready for school.

districts and YMCAs), as well aspart-day or part-week preschoolprograms.

It is important to note that pre-school programs do not fill thesame role as child care. Theintent of preschool is to not tocare for children so parents cango to work, school, etc. but to pro-vide children with early learningexperiences to prepare them forkindergarten. However, manychild care centers do an excellentjob of incorporating early learningactivities into their programs, anda growing number of public pre-school programs (Head Start andState Pre-Kindergarten) areextending their hours or collabo-rating with child care programsin order to meet families’ full-daychild care needs.

How Do Families Find Child Care?

Families seek child care by askingrelatives or friends for referrals,they look at notices and adver-tisements, and they visit childcare centers in their communities.The State of Illinois offers aresource for families in the formof a referral service. IllinoisAction for Children administersthis service in Cook County. The

Illinois Action for ChildrenResource and Referral Programmaintains a database of child careproviders who register voluntarilyto be referred to parents. Theproviders supply detailed infor-mation about their programs sothe referral consultants can helpparents find providers that matchtheir needs and preferences.Referral consultants also educateparents on what quality childcare looks like so parents aremore equipped to evaluate theprograms they visit.

What is the Typical Family Experience?

While many parents and guard-ians are quite satisfied with thecare their children receive, andare often grateful to the providerfor it, many find the process ofsearching for and deciding on achild care provider stressful. Theyfrequently experience frustrationfinding the care they need at theright hours, right location andright price.

Families search for child careunder vastly different circum-stances, and no one family’s storycan represent them all. Still, weshall introduce three “typical”families, and discuss the differentdimensions of their child careneeds. While this still does not do complete justice to the widevariety of family experiences inCook County, it conveys some-thing of the complex problemsand hard decisions which CookCounty families face in arrangingtheir child care.

The 2005 Cook County Reportwas prepared by Marcia Stoll andDavid Alexander, PhD

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Introduction: Families and Child Care in Cook County

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The Cost of Child CareEach year, the Illinois Action forChildren Resource and ReferralProgram asks providers to reportthe rates they charge parents.Tables I-1 and I-2 present theaverage market rates that 712child care centers and 2,663homes respectively charge in thesix regions of Cook County.Centers average between $120 to$237 each week to care for chil-dren under age 6. Home providerscharge an average of $105 to $179weekly, depending upon age andregion. The last rows of bothtables show the rates that theIllinois Child Care AssistanceProgram reimburses Cook Countyproviders. We will discuss theserates further in Section I-D.

Tables I-1 and I-2 show thatsharp differences occur in childcare rates depending upon theregion in which the care occursand the age of the child. In childcare, it is well-known that theyounger the children, the moreexpensive it is to provide theircare, largely because of the extracare and attention younger chil-dren require.

The south and southwesternregions of both Chicago andsuburban Cook County generallyhave the lowest rates. This proba-bly reflects the lower levels offamily incomes and less ability topay for care in these regions. Itmight also reflect the fact thatthere are relatively moreproviders in most kinds of care inthese communities. [See SectionII.] Private and public sectorentrepreneurs have been relative-ly successful in building neededchild care capacity in many ofthese communities, and this moreplentiful supply might keep theiraverage rates lower.

Family Dilemma: Child Care Affordability

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Section I

Table I-1. Child Care Center Full-Time Weekly RatesLicensed and License-Exempt Centers, FY2005. Source: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program

5 Year2 Year 3-4 Year Old B/A

Infant Toddler Old Old & K School

N & NW Chicago $205 $190 $157 $143 $137 $94

C & W Chicago $199 $203 $172 $155 $148 $114

S & SW Chicago $169 $162 $136 $122 $120 $89

N & NW Suburban Cook $237 $217 $194 $171 $161 $100

West Suburban Cook $202 $180 $157 $144 $141 $95

S & SW Suburban Cook $179 $166 $145 $133 $127 $93

IDHS Full Time Under 2-1/2 Years Old 2-1/2 Years Old and Older School AgePayment Rates 168.85 per week 121.70 per week 60.85 per wk.

33.77 per day 24.34 per day 12.17 per day

Table I-2. Child Care Home Full-Time Weekly RatesLicensed and License-Exempt Homes, FY2005. Source: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program

5 Year2 Year 3-4 Year Old B/A

Infant Toddler Old Old & K School

N & NW Chicago $146 $140 $136 $131 $127 $104

C & W Chicago $121 $117 $113 $109 $107 $85

S & SW Chicago $119 $115 $112 $108 $105 $82

N & NW Suburban Cook $179 $175 $171 $168 $162 $111

West Suburban Cook $139 $133 $129 $126 $124 $87

S & SW Suburban Cook $123 $118 $115 $111 $107 $81

IDHS Full Time Under 2-1/2 Years Old 2-1/2 Years Old and Older School AgePayment Rates Licensed Homes: 107.65/week; Licensed Homes: 102.50/week; 51.25/week;

L-E Homes: 47.40/week; L-Exempt Homes: 47.40/week; 23.70/w;9.48/day 9.48/day 4.74/d

accepted level that everyone agreesis the “proper” percentage to pay.

Researchers have calculated theamount that families actually pay.Most national studies since the1990s found that average two-parent middle-income familiespaid between 6 percent and 10percent of their income for childcare.3 If for illustration we pickthe higher 10 percent level as arule of thumb, we calculate that afamily in 2005 would have had toearn far more than the medianfamily income, in fact $91,000 fora single infant in Chicago centercare and up to $158,000 for bothan infant and four-year old in aChicago center. To meet the 10percent rule of thumb in subur-ban Cook County centers, a fami-ly paying for infant care wouldrequire an income of at least$105,500 while center care forboth an infant and a four-year-oldwould require an income of$181,500.4 With any lower incomethe family would need to pay ahigher percentage of its incomefor such care.

Helping Parents Meetthe Cost of Child CareSeveral government-fundedresources exist to help familiespay for their child care costs, andchild care providers themselvesoften have tuition policies toassist families in making the costof care affordable.

The main source of financialassistance to help Illinois parentswith child care costs is the IllinoisChild Care Assistance Program.A family eligible for this programselects a child care provider ofchoice and the State reimbursesthis provider for his or her services.Parents pay a portion of the costof care, a co-payment, whichdepends on the family’s size andincome. Illinois Child Care Assis-tance is available for families thatearn at or below 50 percent of thestate median income, or $34,584for a family of four in 2005.Parents must work or be in anapproved school or training pro-gram to be eligible. The IllinoisChild Care Assistance Program isprimarily a voucher system,which is administered in Cook

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An unusual finding in the Centraland West Chicago region is thathome child care rates are lowwhile center rates are the secondhighest of all regions. The expla-nation for this is that 92 percentof the region’s listed home pro-viders fall within the western halfof the region, one of the poorestareas of the county. The low childcare home rates reflect the lowincomes and poverty of Chicago’swest side. Child care centers, incontrast, are evenly distributedthroughout the region, which alsoencompasses the wealthier centralarea of Chicago. The higher ratesof central Chicago centers raisethe region’s overall centeraverage.

What Percent ofIncome is Reasonable toSpend on Child Care?As the rate tables indicate, childcare places a costly burden onfamilies. According to the USCensus, the typical (median)income for families with childrenin Cook County was $54,034before taxes in 2004, and even

Section I: Family Dilemma: Child Care Affordability

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Clower for Chicago families at$38,565.1 Care for one infant in aChicago child care center, at anaverage cost of $182 per week, or$9,100 over a fifty-week year,costs 24 percent of the typicalChicago family income. At $8,880per year, toddler care takes upalmost the same portion of thefamily income.

The median rent in Chicago in2004 was $8,724, according to thesame US Census report. By thismeasure, infant and toddler carein Chicago centers is just asexpensive as rent for the typicalChicago family. Similarly, childcare is more expensive than aver-age fees and tuition at State col-leges and universities in Illinois.At $7,151, these average fees andtuition cover only 79 percent ofthe cost of infant care in Chicagocenters and 68 percent of the costof infant care in suburban Cookcenters.2

Is 24 percent of a family’s incometoo much to pay for an infant’schild care? Is 48 percent too muchto pay for an infant and a toddler?What is the proper proportionbetween child care expenses andincome? There is no generally

County by Illinois Action forChildren under contract with theIllinois Department of HumanServices (IDHS). Some child carecenters, however, have direct con-tracts with IDHS to serve familieseligible for Illinois Child CareAssistance.

Another state program that pro-vides child care assistance, but toa more specific population, is theDepartment of Children andFamily Services (DCFS). DCFSprovides child care vouchers pri-marily to families with foster chil-dren.

Beyond government-funded pro-grams, a number of child careproviders offer their own forms ofchild care assistance. Theseinclude discounts for parents withmore than one child in their care,sliding scale fees based on a fami-ly’s ability to pay, scholarshipsand negotiable rates. Someproviders will accept the IllinoisChild Care Assistance reimburse-ment as full payment even thoughthe amount they receive throughthe program may be less thanwhat the provider typicallycharges.

Child CareAffordability withAssistanceThe Illinois Child Care AssistanceProgram was designed to helpworking parents who earn lessthan 50 percent of the state’smedian family income afford childcare. Child care advocates and

policy makers are keenly interestedin whether the Illinois Child CareAssistance Program enables low-income parents in Cook County toafford quality care. While TablesI-1 and I-2 above do not addressthis question completely, theysuggest an answer. The last row of each table presents how muchthe Assistance Program pays toproviders for different types ofcare. As these rows indicate, therates that the Assistance Programpays to Cook County centers and

homes in almost all cases fallbelow the average rate that cen-ters and homes actually chargeparents.

Under the Illinois Child Care Assis-tance Program parents mustmake a co-payment: they pay theprovider a part of the Assistancerate listed in Tables I-1 and I-2.The amount of a family’s co-pay-ment depends on income. A familyof three must pay at least $1.00and as much as $43.00 per weekwith one child in care (or $74 fortwo children). Parents may alsoface an additional payment. Sincethe average provider reporting inCook County charges more thanwhat the Assistance Program willpay them, parents may also haveto pay that difference in additionto their co-payments requiredunder the Assistance Program (or else they must convince theirproviders to accept a lower pay-ment than they normally chargeparents).

It is fair to conclude that evenafter receiving State Assistance a family’s choice of provider andthe quality of options available toit can remain seriously limited.While we have hearsay evidencethat some providers do work withthe family to determine anacceptable rate, many providerscannot afford to reduce their ratesto meet a family’s ability to pay.

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WHICH FAMILIES ARE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE?

Jennifer Acosta: Working mom with 4-year-old. Income is $14,248 a year. Jennifer is eligible for Child Care Assistance. She will need to pay a co-payment of$86.66 per month, or 7 percent of her gross income. If she chooses a child careprovider who charges more than the Assistance program pays, she may have to makeadditional payments. If she has an available relative, friend or neighbor to provide care,they might be more willing to waive all or part of her co-payment or be more flexiblewith when she has to make her co-payments.

Denise and Ivan Williams: Working parents with infant. Income is $32,500.Though each parent earns little more than minimum wage, this family is over theincome limit for Child Care Assistance for a family of three. They will need to cover thefull cost of child care (on average $5,200) on their own unless they quit one job orotherwise reduce their income enough to be eligible for Assistance.

Regina Thomas: Working mom with 3-year-old and 7-year-old. Income is $59,000. Regina’s income is far above 50 percent of the state median income for a family ofthree ($29,052) so she is not eligible for Assistance. Perhaps she can find a childcare provider who offers a reduced price for having two children in care.

D

Figure I-1 develops the story ofchild care affordability withIllinois Child Care Assistance inmore detail, in this case for CookCounty for a family of four. 5 Itpresents the cost of care for justone child as a percentage of dif-ferent family incomes rangingfrom $10,000 to $200,000. Thechart’s four lines are cost lines,with the highest cost line repre-senting the high price of centercare for an infant and the lowestcost level representing the moreaffordable price of family, friendor neighbor care for an older

child. The four kinds of child carecosts appear as percentages ofeach income level that is meas-ured on the horizontal axis. Thechart is realistic in the sense thatit includes the effect of receivingIllinois Child Care Assistance,which is available to a family oflow income if all present parentsare employed.6

Figure I-1 shows Cook Countyparents can pay as little as a fewpercent of family income (forinformal neighbor child care) andas much as 27 percent (for infant

center care) for one child, depend-ing on their level of income, theage of the child and type of carethey use. Note that Figure I-1builds upon average rates of caresuch as those in Tables I-1 and I-2. Some parents might have topay a higher rate than the aver-age while others will pay belowthe average. Placing more chil-dren in care, moreover, will costparents more.

Beginning with a family withalmost no income on the left andmoving up to a family income of

about $35,000, we see that a familyof four would spend between 5percent and 18 percent of itsincome for full-time care for onechild, depending on age and typeof care. It is Illinois Child CareAssistance alone that makes itpossible for child care to cost thislittle for working families withthese low incomes. If the workingfamily’s income rises above $35,000,the working family ceases to beeligible for Illinois Child CareAssistance and most child carecosts shoot up to a prohibitivelyhigh percentage of the family’sincome (from 16 to 27 percent).

Only family, friend and neighborcare changes little as a percent-age of income and remains afford-able for families earning just over$35,000. Consider the example often-percent-of-income we usedearlier in this section to discussaffordability. Once a family’sincome rises above $35,000 andits income ceases to fall withinthe limits of Child Care Assis-tance, it takes an income of$66,000 before licensed child carehomes and center care for athree-year-old return to 10 per-cent of the family’s income, andan income of $115,000 before thecost of infant care in a centerreturns to 10 percent of the fami-ly’s income. Again, for a familyearning less than $66,000, only

11


Figure I-1. What Families Need to Spend on Child CareFamily Size of 4, 1 Child in Care

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

$28,000

$30,000

$33,000

$37,000

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

$70,000

$80,000

$90,000

$100,000

$120,000

$130,000

$150,000

$200,000

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

Type of Care

Neighbor

Licensed Home

Center—Age 3

Center—Infant

Per

cent

of

Fam

ily I

nco

me

Family Income

informal family, friend or neigh-bor child care is affordable at 10percent of family income. Thesehigher incomes, needless to say,are substantially above the typi-cal family income in Illinois. If wechose the 6 percent rule of thumbfor affordability, the family wouldneed a much higher income tofind child care affordable.

The Use of IllinoisChild Care Assistance The Illinois Child Care AssistanceProgram supports about 50,000Cook County families eachmonth, and assistance for fostercare helps thousands more. Totake advantage of this assistance,an eligible family must first find a child care provider willing towork with the IDHS or DCFSpayment system. The IllinoisAction for Children Resource and Referral Program collectsdata from its listed providers onwhether or not they are willing to accept children with IllinoisChild Care Assistance or DCFSvouchers. In 2005:

• 63 percent of Cook Countycenters listed with IllinoisAction for Children (852centers) said they would

12


WHAT TYPES OF CHILD CARE CAN FAMILIES AFFORD?

Assuming “affordable” means paying no more than 10 percent of the family income on child care, here are the types of care ourfamilies can afford based on the average cost of care.

• Jennifer Acosta: Working mom with 4-year-old. Income is $14,248 a year.

To stay within 10 percent of her income, Jennifer would be able to pay as much as $28 per week on child care. If she usesIllinois Child Care Assistance, for which she is eligible, she will have to pay $20 per week for her co-payment. If Jennifer is ableto find a child care provider who accepts Illinois Child Care Assistance and who expects no additional payments on top of her co-payment, she will have access to both center and licensed home care.

However, since the rates paid by the Illinois Child Care Assistance program are less than the average rates charged by centerand licensed home providers, these providers might ask her to pay the difference. In this case, Jennifer would be priced out ofall center care except that in the South & Southwest Chicago region and of all licensed home care except in the West & Centraland the South & Southwest Chicago regions. In all other regions she would only be able to afford license-exempt home care.

• Denise and Ivan Williams: Working parents with infant. Income is $32,500.

Since this couple is not eligible for Illinois Child Care Assistance, their options are more limited. Working within 10 percent oftheir income, they could pay as much as $65 per week toward child care, or about $280 per month. Even if their child waspreschool or school age rather than an infant, they would not be able to afford the average cost of either licensed home orcenter care.

Options for this couple include looking for family, friend or neighbor child care, taking jobs where they could stagger their workschedules, or reducing their wages enough so they could be eligible for Illinois Child Care Assistance.

• Regina Thomas: Working parent with 3-year-old & 7-year old. Income is $59,000.

Regina earns above the Illinois median income for a family of three, well above the cut off for Illinois Child Care Assistance. Shecan spend up to $118 per week to stay within 10 percent of her income. But if she wants to use center care, $118 would noteven cover the cost of care for her 3-year-old. In three regions she could afford to place one child in licensed home care, but inno region could she afford this care for both children. Like the family above, Regina would need to consider family, friend orneighbor care if she is to spend no more than 10 percent of her income on child care.

Regina was also interested in part-day preschool for her 3-year-old so she could get some exposure to classroom activities. Thisoption, however, would leave little if any money for child care during the other hours needed.

E

Table I-3. 2005 Average Weekly Market Rates & Rate Increases Since 2000Source: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program. Rounded to the nearest dollar or percent.

Percent Percent Percent Percent Growth Growth Suburban Growth Suburban Growth

Chicago Since Chicago Since Cook Since Cook SinceAge Centers 2000 Homes 2000 Centers 2000 Homes 2000

Infant $182 4% $124 12% $211 17% $142 7%

Toddler $178 8% $119 12% $192 17% $137 7%

2 Years Old $148 30% $116 12% $169 21% $133 7%

3-4 Years Old $134 26% $112 12% $152 20% $130 6%

5 Years Old $130 24% $109 12% $145 16% $125 4%

Before or After School $95 45% $85 40% $96 20% $87 28%

School Age Summer $123 42% $105 22% $139 16% $112 14%

accept children who useIllinois Child Care Assistance.7

• fewer centers accept the DCFSassistance for foster children:535 centers, or forty-threepercent.

• direct public-sector contractsto serve families with IllinoisChild Care Assistance are inplace in 105 centers, 68 per-cent of these in Chicago and32 percent in suburban CookCounty.

• 87 percent of licensed homeslisted with Illinois Action forChildren, some 2,960, reportedthat they accept children withIllinois Child Care Assistance.About 57 percent reported thatthey accept children who haveDCFS vouchers.

Providers themselves report theabove data to Illinois Action forChildren. IDHS reports the num-ber of providers who actuallyreceived payment from the IllinoisChild Care Assistance Program atany given time. In FY2005, 1,250child care centers and 3,376licensed homes in Cook Countywere paid through the IllinoisChild Care Assistance Programfor some child care services.

Referrals Given to FamiliesEligible for Child CareAssistanceIn 2005, 15,240 families calledIllinois Action for Children insearch of child care referrals. Ofthese families, eighty-seven per-cent had incomes at or below 50 percent of the state medianincome, making them eligible forIllinois Child Care Assistance ifthey were working or in anapproved school or training pro-gram. Figure I-2 shows, by region,the number of children represent-ed in these referral requests forproviders who accept eitherIllinois Child Care Assistance or the DCFS voucher.

Note: In Section V we return tothe topic of Illinois Child CareAssistance and report on the total

number of children eligible inCook County and the number ofeligible children not being served.In Section VI we report on thetypes of child care used by fami-lies with Assistance.

Trends in Child Care RatesLike most expenses, child carecosts tend to rise every year. TableI-3 presents the aggregate rateincreases in centers and familychild care homes for Chicago andsuburban Cook County. The dollarcolumns show the most recentrates for different age groups.Next to each rate is a column thatpresents the percent increase over

the five years from July 2000 toJuly 2005. Increases ranged from4 to 45 percent. Over the sameperiod of time, all consumer pricesrose about 13 percent nationally.8

Some child care rates rose belowthat average inflation rate, butmany far exceeded that rate,especially center rates.

While the average cost of childcare for all age groups is higherin suburban Cook County than inChicago, Chicago has experiencedmore rapid rate increases overthe last five years than has sub-urban Cook County. This is thecase for both center and homecare for all age groups, with theexception of infant and toddlercenter care. In Chicago, centerinfant and toddler rates increasedrelatively little compared to the

13


F

4 to 5 percent increase per yearfor ages 2 through 5. Suburbancenter infant and toddler ratesrose much more than in Chicago,but were still outpaced by 2through 4-year-old care.

In another notable trend, before-and-after-school care rates havegenerally risen faster than othertypes of care, especially inChicago.

Overall, the more rapid growth in child care rates occurred incenters rather than amonghomes. Two important exceptionswhere homes rates outpacedthose of centers were infant andtoddler care in Chicago and sub-urban before-and-after-schoolcare. It thus appears that CookCounty parents—or those whocan afford to pay for care—have a demand for center care growingfaster than their demand forhome care, especially in the agesabove toddler.

1 2004 American Community Survey, US CensusBureau. This is the last year available at the time of writing. The Census does not present data onsuburban Cook County as we do.

2 Average annual tuition and fees paid for a 4-yearpublic institution in Illinois for the 2005-2006 schoolyear, from www.collegeillinois.com.

3 See for example, the National Child Care Survey,1990 and Child Care Expenses of AmericanFamilies, Urban Institute, 1997. The Census Bureaufinds that child care payments average 6.9 percentfor families with mothers and with children under 15,and average 7.2 percent if the mother has a job.Having more children or lower incomes raises thepercentages. Who’s Minding the Kids? Child CareArrangements: Winter 2002, US Bureau of theCensus, Oct. 2005, Table 6.

4 If we used 6 percent as a rule of thumb, theseincomes must be over $151,000 and $243,000respectively in Chicago and over $175,800 and$302,500 in suburban Cook County.

5 Since the Illinois Child Care Assistance Programreimburses child care providers at different rates indifferent parts of the state, a single chart for Illinoisas a whole would be unreadable. For details, see the following:http://www.actforchildren.org/_uploads/documents/live/Cost_of_Care_1Child_Family_of_4_FY06.pdf.

6 In some cases, the parent(s) can be in schoolinstead of working. The chart assumes that parentsreceiving Child Care Assistance pay their assignedco-payment as well as the difference between theprice their child care provider charges and the ratetheir provider is reimbursed by the Child CareAssistance Program.

7 In this and the next bullet, centers that are Pre-K orHead Start–only programs are not included in thepercentage.

8 Consumer prices as measured by CPI-U by U.S.Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics;http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost, accessedFebruary 23, 2006.

14


15


Salaries and benefits generally account for well over half of acenter’s expenses.* The higher staff compensation is, the harderit is for providers to offer child care unless they can charge par-ents higher fees.

Salaries in Cook County

It is no secret that Illinois child care workers generally are notwell-paid. In 2003 in Cook County, full-time center teachers infull-year licensed programs earned an average of $10.50 perhour, while assistant teachers earned $8.50.** This amounts toless than half of what public elementary school teachers earn (ina system fully subsidized by the public sector). Elementary schoolteachers also are more likely to have benefits such as healthinsurance and retirement plans than are child care teachers.

Salaries and Quality

In thinking about the high cost of child care, we need be awarethat staff compensation also affects the quality of the child caresupplied by centers and homes. One major aspect of quality, therelationship between provider and child, suffers when lower com-pensation makes it difficult to retain staff. Better trained, moreexperienced and more skilled teachers, for example, will generallycost a center or home more to hire and retain than less trained,less experienced and less skilled staff.

Low compensation rates in child care bring a high turnoveramong staff. In Illinois for every 100 early childhood teachersworking for centers in 2003, some 38 left their jobs in the

previous two years. Of every 100 assistant teachers, 55 left theirjobs. A further consequence of this high turnover rate is a lowerlevel of job experience: 43 percent of center teachers and 59percent of assistant teachers had been at their current job fortwo years or less in 2003.†

Since inadequate compensation is one reason why child careexperiences such workforce instability, studies find that low qualityis generally correlated with low cost. On average, the center or home that pays below going rates for staff will offer lowerquality care.‡

Child care providers thus face a vexing dilemma. They must keepstaff compensation low in order to stay in business, but need tokeep compensation high in order to maintain high quality and paya living wage.

* A study of Massachusetts’ child care centers found that 71 percent of an averagecenter’s expenses go to salaries and benefits. The Cost and Quality of Full DayCare, Year-round Early Care and Education in Massachusetts (A study preparedfor the Massachusetts Department of Education by the Wellesley College Centersfor Women, 2001).

** Illinois Salary and Staffing Survey of Licensed Child Care Facilities: Fiscal Year2003 (A study prepared for the Department of Human and CommunityDevelopment by Dawn Ramsburg, Dale Montenelli and Emily Rouge, April 2004.)Table 21. Cook County salaries were not low by comparison with other countiesin Illinois, although teachers in Lake, McHenry, Kane and DuPage Countiesearned as much as Cook County teachers or more. A new survey was conductedin FY2005 but the results have not yet been published.

† Ibid., Tables 7 and 16.

‡ Of course, this is true only on average, and not for all programs. Many skilled and dedicated teachers remain at low salaries.

WHY DOES CHILD CARE IN CENTERS COST SO MUCH?

Child Care Providersand Slots in CookCountyA family’s access to child caredepends not only on affordabilitybut also on the number of avail-able child care slots in the com-munity for the child’s age group.Child care supply in Cook Countycomes from a rich mix of some70,000 entrepreneurs includingindividual providers, educators,non-profit enterprises, for-profitenterprises and public agencies.Appendix 3 discusses some of thefactors that enter into the supplyof child care. This section exam-ines some critical elements of that supply: the number of pro-viders there are, their geographi-cal distribution across CookCounty and the number of slotsthey report to us.

Table II-1 shows the best countwe can provide of the number ofchild care programs in CookCounty, while Table II-2 showsthe number of child care slots pro-vided by these programs. Eachtable divides the programs intotype of child care setting: licensedand license-exempt center childcare, and licensed and license-exempt home care. These types ofchild care settings are defined inthe Glossary. Appendix 4 discuss-es the data sources we use andsome problems we encounter incalculating these numbers.

These tables understate the actu-al number of providers in CookCounty and the children they canserve. Centers and homes thatare exempt from licensing do nothave to list their slots with anyofficial source.9 While a largenumber of license-exempt centersdo list their programs with theIllinois Action for ChildrenResource and Referral Program,we have a more limited list oflicense-exempt home providers inCook County.

Family Dilemma:Access to Available Child Care Slots

Section II.

16

A

Table II-2. Child Care Slots in Cook CountyCenter and licensed home slots include daytime slots only.

Type of Program FY2004** FY2005

Licensed Centers 85,106 86,387

License-Exempt Centers 28,673 29,916

Licensed Homes 29,807 29,744

License-Exempt Homes 79,137 78,261

Total 222,723 224,308

To estimate slots in license-exempt homes, we multiply the number of license-exempt homes known throughthe Illinois Child Care Assistance Program by three children per home. License-exempt home providerslegally can care for no more than three children unless all children are related. While the number of license-exempt slots listed above reflects the potential capacity of license-exempt home providers, on average theactual number of children enrolled is less than three per provider.

** The FY2004 licensed center and licensed home data here differ slightly from those published in last year’sreport. This year, both FY2004 and FY2005 licensed data include providers in the process of becoming re-licensed at a new address. We did not include these providers in our licensed count in 2004.

Table II–1. Best Counts of Child Care Programs in Cook County*

Type of Program FY2004** FY2005

Licensed Centers 1,216 1,221

License-Exempt Centers 641 632

Licensed Homes 3,956 4,042

License-Exempt Homes 26,379 26,087

Total Programs 32,192 31,982

** The best currently available source of information for each kind of care. See Appendix 3.Note that the TOTAL row adds dissimilar homes and centers together, and should be considered a totalonly for recorded child care establishments irrespective of size.

** The FY2004 licensed center and licensed home data here differ slightly from those published in last year’sreport. This year, both FY2004 and FY2005 licensed data include providers in the process of becoming re-licensed at a new address. These providers were not included in our licensed count in 2004.

In 2005, 1,853 known child carecenters offered 116,303 child careslots. Child care centers offeredsomewhat more than half of thetotal known capacity in CookCounty. About 74 percent of theslots in child care centers were inlicensed centers.

As of June 2005, the Departmentof Children and Family Services(DCFS) had listed 4,042 licensedfamily and group child care homesin Cook County with daytimeslots for 29,744 children. Thelarge majority of licensed familychild care homes have a legalcapacity up to 12. There are also alimited number of group childcare homes which can have alegal capacity up to 16.10 Theactual average licensed capacityof homes, however, is considerablylower: 7.4.

The tables also report on thenumber of known license-exempthome providers and their avail-able slots. As mentioned, license-exempt home providers are amuch more elusive group. NeitherDCFS nor the Illinois Action forChildren Resource and ReferralProgram has significant informa-tion on license-exempt homeproviders, although we learn moreevery year through the Resourceand Referral Program. We knowmost about those license-exempthome providers who receive

payments from the Illinois ChildCare Assistance Program for pro-viding child care to low-incomeworking families, so these are theones we report on here.

In Fiscal Year 2005, some 42,106Cook County license-exempthome providers received IllinoisChild Care Assistance paymentsduring at least one month of theyear, though fewer participate atany one time. In June 2005,26,087 license-exempt home childcare providers were receivingIllinois Child Care Assistancepayments.

Home providers who have license-exempt status may legally carefor as many as three children whoare not their own.11 While we pro-visionally estimate 78,261 slots inknown license-exempt homes inTable II-2, the reader should beaware that many, though not all,license-exempt home providers donot offer child care slots in thesame way that centers andlicensed homes do. Instead, manyare relatives, neighbors or familyfriends who choose to care forparticular children for particularperiods of time rather than offercare to any child as part of an on-going business.

Providers and Slots by RegionSome parents will have a moredifficult time finding child carebecause of where they live. The116,303 spaces in child care cen-ters are almost evenly dividedbetween Chicago and suburbanCook County. By comparison,almost two-thirds (64 percent) ofthe 29,744 licensed home spacesare located in Chicago. Table II-3shows how center and home slotsare distributed among the regionsof Cook County.

The table also shows the distribu-tion of the 78,261 known license-exempt home slots, with eighty-one percent falling withinChicago and only 19 percent insuburban Cook County. The tableshows the numerical concentra-tion of these homes in Chicago’sSouth & Southwestern and West& Central regions, mirroring thedistribution of low-income fami-lies who are eligible for theIllinois Child Care AssistanceProgram.

License-exempt home care can bebroken down further into careprovided by relatives versus non-relatives and care provided in thechild’s home versus the provider’s

17

Section II: Family Dilemma: Access to Available Child Care Slots

B

Table II-3. Center & Home Child Care Slots in Cook County Regions, 2005Center and licensed home slots include daytime only.Source: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program, DCFS, and the Illinois ChildCare Assistance Program

N & NW West S & SWN & NW C & W S & SW Suburban Suburban Suburban

Program Type Chicago Chicago Chicago Cook Cook Cook

Licensed Centers 9,475 12,503 17,616 21,477 7,685 17,631

License-Exempt Centers 5,542 5,534 9,593 6,257 1,749 1,241

Licensed Homes 2,675 5,061 11,342 1,980 2,538 6,148

License-Exempt Homes 5,076 20,391 38,181 1,209 3,732 9,672

Total 22,768 43,489 76,732 30,923 15,704 34,692

home. Table II-4 shows the distri-bution of these four types oflicense-exempt home care for thesix Cook County regions.

Maps 1 and 2 show how centerand licensed home slots addedtogether are spread among theindividual communities of CookCounty. License-exempt homeslots are not included here becausethe data we have provide only aportion of a widely unknown sup-ply, and because the supply oflicense-exempt home care is morevariable than licensed care, as weexplained earlier in this section.12

While providers have more childcare slots in Chicago than in sub-urban Cook County, the numberof slots in both the suburban com-munities and Chicago neighbor-hoods vary.

Center Slots by Age

Some parents will have more dif-ficulty finding child care becauseof the ages of their children. Thissection presents the number ofchildren in each age group thatCook County child care centers

can serve. Home child care pro-viders have more flexibility in theages of children they can enrolland these change frequently. Forthis reason we do not provide com-parable data for child care homes.

In 2005, 1,580 child care centerslisted with Illinois Action forChildren, or 85 percent of thetotal number of known centers,reported the number of childrenthey serve per age group. Table II-5 shows the distribution of97,682 slots in licensed andlicense-exempt child care centersamong the different age groups inthe six regions of Cook County. 13

Overall, the total age-identifiedcenter slots are split almostequally between Chicago andsuburban Cook County regions.

It is often noted that infant careand school-age care are amongthe most difficult for parents to

find. Table II-5 confirms this. Witha total of 3,231 slots, fewer placesexist for infants than any otherage group under school age. Onlyeight percent of all center slotsare for infants and toddlers. Thislimited supply of infant and tod-dler slots is not surprising, sinceit is costly for centers to providecare for this age group. Many fami-lies with infants and toddlers lookto family child care homes for thiscare; however, even family childcare homes, understandably, arelimited by law to watching threechildren under age two at one timeunless an assistant is present.

Programs for school age children,with a total of 19,476 slots for allage groups, have the lowest num-ber of slots per age. There areabout three times as many slotslisted for just three and four yearolds as there are for the entireschool age group, ages 6 through 12.

18


Table II-4. License-Exempt Home Child Care Providers, June 2005Source: Illinois Child Care Assistance Program


Program Type Chicago Chicago Chicago Cook Cook Cook

Home of Non-Relative 735 2,304 4,311 204 456 1,053

Relative’s Home 1,917 7,608 13,911 408 1,536 3,834

Non-Relative in Child’s Home 1,125 5,235 9,996 264 768 2,142

Relative in Child’s Home 1,299 5,244 9,963 333 972 2,643

Total 5,076 20,391 38,181 1,209 3,732 9,672

C

Table II - 5. Child Care Center Slots in Cook County by Age in 2005Source: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program

N & NW West S & SW SuburbanN & NW C & W S & SW Chicago Suburban Suburban Suburban Cook

Age Chicago Chicago Chicago Total Cook Cook Cook Total Total

Infant 133 297 457 887 1,267 261 816 2,344 3,231

Toddler 274 400 676 1,350 1,511 379 1,121 3,011 4,361

2 Years Old 1,122 1,394 2,346 4,862 3,049 840 2,137 6,026 10,888

3-4 Years Old 4,291 5,972 8,914 19,177 7,386 2,891 4,641 14,918 34,095

5 Years & K 2,937 4,489 6,584 14,010 6,440 1,808 3,373 11,621 25,631

School Age 2,604 3,063 4,349 10,016 5,814 1,780 1,866 9,460 19,476

Total 11,361 15,615 23,326 50,302 25,467 7,959 13,954 47,380 97,682

19


Map 1: Center and Licensed Home Slots in Cook County Municipalities

Map 2: Center and Licensed Home Slots in Chicago Community Areas

20


A comparison of suburban CookCounty center slots with Chicagocenter slots reveals unequal bal-ance in different age groups. Subur-ban Cook County has 60 percentmore center slots for children underage three than the city of Chicagohas: 11,381 slots to 7,099. Again,however, Chicago has dispropor-tionately more center slots for thethree through five year-old agerange: 33,187 slots to 26,539 slots.

Referrals Given to Parents in 2005 by Child AgeParents looking for child care oftenseek referrals from Illinois Actionfor Children’s referral service. Asin 2004, child care referrals weremost often requested for childrenunder age two— 35 percent of allrequests. Requests for childrenunder 2 were relatively higher on the north side of the county,(41 percent of requests fromNNW Chicago and 42 percent ofrequests from NNW SuburbanCook), while lower on the south-ern side of the county, (31 percentfor SSW Chicago and 34 percentfor SSW Suburban Cook). SeeTable II-6 for the breakdown ofreferral requests by child age and region.

21


A family looking for infant care in a center or licensed home willhave the greatest success in finding care if they live in the South& Southwest suburban region of the county. This region has ahigh number of infant center slots and a high number of licensedhome providers who care for children under age 1. The numberof infants in the community per center infant slot and per licensedhome provider is low—making it easier for families to find care.

The North & Northwest Suburban region also does well with infantcenter care. However, for a family priced out of this type of care,there are very few licensed home options in the region for infants.

Families in the West suburbs will also have particular trouble find-ing licensed home providers who care for infants.

A family living in the North & Northwest Chicago region will findcenter infant care very scarce, in fact over three times scarcerthan any other region. Licensed home care for infants is also lessabundant here than in some other areas.

BEST AND WORST REGIONS FOR FINDING INFANT CARE

Number of Infants in the

Number of Infants Community in the Community per Licensed

per Center Slot Home Provider

North & Northwest Chicago 124 87

West & Central Chicago 37 40

South & Southwest Chicago 41 33

North & Northwest Suburban Cook 12 566

West Suburban Cook 30 158

South & Southwest Suburban Cook 12 28

D

Table–II-6. Requests for Child Care by AgeSource: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program, 2005

N & NW West S & SW CookN & NW C & W S & SW Suburban Suburban Suburban County

Age Chicago Chicago Chicago Cook Cook Cook Total

Under 2 1,993 1,038 2,291 725 672 649 7,36841% 31% 31% 42% 41% 34% 35%

2 Years Old 666 405 923 234 232 252 2,71214% 12% 12% 14% 14% 13% 13%

3-4 Years Old 1,347 1,292 2,578 377 353 358 6,30527% 38% 34% 22% 21% 19% 30%

5 Years & K 249 195 452 90 110 132 1,2285% 6% 6% 5% 7% 7% 6%

School-Age 645 456 1,247 289 286 500 3,42313% 13% 17% 17% 17% 26% 16%

Total 4,900 3,386 7,491 1,715 1,653 1,891 21,036100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

9 Even when the number of slots is known, it is only anestimate of the number of children served. Someproviders might have empty slots, in which case thenumber of slots exceeds the number of children inthe care of these providers. On the other hand, twoor more part-time children might fill some slots, inwhich case the number of children in care exceedsthe number of slots.

10 A home’s operator might not want to provide carefor the home’s full legal or licensed capacity.

11 If the children are all related, the provider can carefor more than three at one time.

12 The fact that many, though not all, license-exempthomes do not strictly offer slots but have morepersonal and variable enrollment creates enormousproblems for estimating child care supply anddemand. A related but smaller problem is that whilecenters and homes are legally licensed for a certainnumber of children, some restrict their actual enroll-ment to a smaller number.

13 These are slots for which an age is specificallymentioned. There may be some double counting inas much as a center might offer a slot to either four-year-olds or five-year-olds. About 20,000 slots haveno age attached.

Fewer than one-half of Illinoisanswho work part-time have tradi-tional work shifts, that is, work onlyduring the daytime on weekdayswhen most child care programsare available, while only 62 per-cent of Illinoisans with full timejobs work these traditional hours.14

The remaining half of part-timeemployees and one-third of fulltime employees work non-tradi-tional schedules that include atleast some evening, night orweekend hours. Many also workschedules that change periodical-ly, either in a predictable manneror irregularly. Some of the mostcommon or fastest-growing jobsrequire non-traditional hours,including retail, food services,office cleaning, hospitals andnursing homes and some factorywork. In general, low paying jobsare more likely to require parentsto work non-traditional schedulesthan better paying jobs.15 Thesework schedules give rise to one ofthe most intractable problems fac-ing many parents seeking childcare. Relatively few programs

accommodate parents’ needs forevening child care, overnight care,weekend care, care during rotat-ing work shifts and care duringwork shifts scheduled almost atthe last minute.

Providers OfferingCare During Non-Traditional HoursTable III-1 shows the number andpercentage of centers and homesin Cook County available for Illi-nois Action for Children to referparents to for evening child care,overnight care, weekend care andcare during rotating shifts.

In the table several facts standout about the availability of childcare during non-traditional hours.First, relatively few centers orchild care homes offer care duringnon-traditional hours. In terms ofboth numbers and percentages,child care homes offer more non-

traditional hours of care thancenters offer.

This confirms the frequently-heard comment that child carehomes are more flexible thancenter programs in accommodatingparents’ work schedules. It shouldbe noted, however, that since theaverage center serves many morechildren than the average home,

the actual totals of children whocan be served by each type ofprogram are comparable. Whatdoes offer greater flexibility forparents is the spread of homesgeographically: the 1,973 homesites in Cook County offering non-traditional hours are more con-venient geographically for parentsthan the 163 center sites. Finally,noteworthy differences exist

Family Dilemma: Finding Child Care that Matches the Family’s Schedule

Section III.

22

A

TABLE III–1. Cook County Providers With Non-Traditional Care16

Source: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program Percent of all

Suburban Listed Centers Chicago Cook County Total or Homes

Centers with Any Non-Traditional Care 69 94 163 10%

Evening 12 17 29 2%

Overnight 0 1 1 0%

Weekend 13 3 16 1%

Rotating Shifts 50 79 129 8%

Homes with Any Non-Traditional Care 1,365 608 1,973 58%

Evening 831 362 1,193 35%

Overnight 257 104 361 11%

Weekend 179 76 253 7%

Rotating Shifts 752 324 1,076 32%

between Chicago and suburbanCook County. While suburbanCook County has a slight majorityof centers offering care duringnon-traditional hours, Chicagohas 69 percent of the homes offer-ing such care.

Families looking for child careduring non-traditional hours havea greatly reduced pool of centerand licensed home slots availableto them. Since non-traditionalwork schedules often go hand inhand with low-income jobs, fami-lies seeking child care duringnon-traditional hours are oftenchallenged with affordabilityissues as well. It is not surprising,then, that many parents turn torelatives, friends and neighbors tocare for their children. Theseproviders often offer a more flexi-ble and affordable alternative.

14 Working Later In Illinois: Work Schedules, Incomesand Parents’ Access To Child Care, Illinois Actionfor Children, forthcoming 2006.

15 Ibid.

16 Here evening care is defined as care providedbetween 7 pm and 2 am, while overnight care iscare provided between 2 am and 5 am.

23

Section III: Family Dilemma: Finding Child Care that Matches the Family’s Schedule

REGINA THOMAS: Working parent with 3-year-oldand 7-year old. Income is$59,000.

As a retail sales manager, Reginaworks from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. eachweekday. We have already learnedthat both center and licensed homecare for her two children are unafford-able for Regina, making family, friendor neighbor care the most realisticoption.

Regina’s work schedule presents anadditional barrier to using center orlicensed home care. Even if affordabil-ity were not a factor, 98% of centerslots and 65% of licensed home slotswould be unavailable to her becauseof her evening work hours.

The school that her 7-year-old attendsmight provide after-school program-ming during the afternoon or earlyevening hours. Even if this were thecase, if the school does not providetransportation to the provider’s home,Regina will need to find a providerwho can pick up her daughter fromschool or find someone reliable tohelp her child get to the provider’shome, a responsibility sometimes leftto an older child.

B

Figure III-1. Children in Need of Non-Traditional Hours of Care Source: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program, 2005

Evening Care Overnight Care Weekend Care

2,400

1,800

1,200

600

0

1,819

618

21454

1,060

309

■ Chicago ■ Suburban Cook

Referrals Given to Parents in Need of Non-traditionalHours of Child CareParents sought referrals for21,036 children through IllinoisAction for Children in 2005.Thirteen percent of these childrenneeded care during evening hoursor overnight, and seven percentneeded child care during weekendhours. Figure III-1 gives the num-ber of children in need of evening,overnight and weekend care forboth Chicago and suburban CookCounty.

What Do Children Need?We have little hard data on theindividual needs that parentsmost seek to accommodate. Onegood piece of information aboutwhat parents look for in a pro-vider comes from a survey of par-ents who use the Illinois Action for

24

The story of parents’ search for child care goes well beyondcritical questions of the parents’work schedules, the region wherethe parents live or work, thechild’s age, and the type of childcare setting that parents want for their child. Each child is aspecific individual and has indi-vidual needs that parents hopethe right provider can meet.

Family Dilemma:Finding the Right Provider

Section IV.

A

Figure IV-1. Reasons Parents Chose Their New Provider, by Child Age

Source: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program, 2005

24% 28%24%

44%35% 32%

13% 15%22% 22%

21%13%

64% 64% 67%

41% 43% 45% 41%33% 34%

14%9% 6%

15% 17% 18%

Affordability Clean and Educational Experienced Location Schedule Warm & Caring Small Group OtherSafe Environment Caregiver Environment Size

Environment

■ Birth to 2 ■ 3 to 5 ■ School Age

80%

40%

0%

Children Resource and Referralprogram. Parents surveyed wereasked to check the top three rea-sons why they chose their newchild care provider. Figure IV-1shows the top reasons of the 1,282respondents. These were location,schedule, a clean and safe envi-ronment, and a warm and caringenvironment. There are somenoticeable, though not surprising,variances among age groups.Parents with infants and toddlersmore frequently based their choice

on “warm and caring environment,”“clean and safe environment” and“small group size” than parents of older age groups; parents ofpreschool age children more fre-quently reported “affordability”as a reason for choosing care;while parents of school age chil-dren were more likely to reportthat “educational environment”was a top reason they chose thecare they did.

Special NeedsIn addition to every child’sindividual needs, some childrenhave special needs. In 2005,parents requested referrals fromIllinois Action for Children for889 children with one or morespecial needs. Of all children with a special need, 39 percenthad a developmental delay andover 26 percent had asthma orsevere allergies. Figure IV-2shows the number of childrenwith each type of need.

Like all parents, those who havechildren with special needs wereasked to complete a follow upsurvey about their experience infinding child care. Of the 241parents of children with specialneeds who responded, 31 percentsaid they were still in search of a child care provider. This is thesame percentage as that ofrespondents without childrenwith special needs.

25

Section IV: Family Dilemma: Finding the Right Provider

BFigure IV-2. Type of Special Needs RequestsSource: Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral Program, 2005

Developmental Asthma/ Autism Physical Emotional/ Special OtherDelays Severe Behavioral Health

Allergies Needs

400

300

200

100

0

345

231

54

125

166

73

153

Sections I through IV presentdilemmas that families may facein seeking and obtaining childcare: finding care that is afford-able, locating open slots, obtainingcare during the hours needed, andfinding the best provider for achild’s specific needs. This sectionis about basic questions the publicfaces in these matters.

The public sector has an impor-tant role to play in helping fami-lies resolve their dilemmas, and,as we have seen, Illinois parentshave a public sector activelyinvolved in addressing families’child care dilemmas. The publicsector faces its own dilemmas. Inparticular the public sector mustdecide how many resources itshould devote to solving families’child care problems, especiallycompared to applying resources toaddress other issues. In thinkingabout this issue, the public needsto decide who needs child care,how much child care the publicshould support, what kind of careto support and who needs support

paying for child care. In this sec-tion we discuss some of the waysof thinking about who needs childcare and who might deserve pub-lic support, and counting them.

Child Population,Poverty and LowIncome Over one million children ages 12and under reside in Cook County.The first four rows of Table V-1enumerate children in Chicagoand suburban Cook County byage groups based on the USCensus 2000. As the table shows,over 54 percent of the children inCook County in 2000 resided inChicago. Potentially all of thechildren age five years old andunder need child care or earlyeducation. It is unrealistic, howev-er, to suppose that the parents ofall these children actually seekcare. Similarly, many older

Public Dilemma: Who Needs Child Care?Who Needs Support?

Section V.

26

Table V-1. Children in Cook County, 2000 CensusChildren Chicago Suburban Cook Total Total Cook County

Under 3 Years 131,472 101,662 233,134

Ages 3 through 5 129,764 108,764 238,528

Ages 6 through 12 302,221 260,216 562,437

Totals 563,457 470,642 1,034,099

Under 3, In Poverty 36,522 8,873 45,395

% of Age Group in Poverty 28% 9% 19%

Ages 3-5, In Poverty 37,557 9,773 47,330


Ages 6-12, In Poverty 88,077 22,868 110,945


Under 3, Income Eligible* 65,267 21,923 87,190

% of Age Group Eligible* 50% 22% 37%

Ages 3-5, Income Eligible * 66,689 23,871 90,560


Ages 6-12, Income Eligible 156,743 55,147 211,891


* Income-eligible for Illinois Child Care Assistance. The income limit is 50% of state median income, orapproximately 185% of the federal poverty level, depending upon family size. The work requirement forIllinois Child Care Assistance is not factored in here. Ages of children both in poverty and income-eligibleare calculated from the proportions of all children in different age groups.

A

children ages six through twelveneed before- or after-school care.

The next six rows of Table V-1show levels of poverty amongchildren in Cook County. Many of these children in poverty haveparents in the labor force earningpoverty-level incomes, but othersdo not. One way that the publicsector supports some poor familiesis through supporting child careopportunities for poor children,especially as a way to preparethem to succeed in school. The

table shows that up to 29 percentof the children in Chicago werepoor in 2000. Chicago childrenwere over three times more likelyto be poor than other Cook Countychildren. Because poverty rateshave risen since 2000, the ratesfor both regions are now probablyhigher than the table indicates.

The final six rows of Table V-1present the number of childrenliving in families whose incomemake them eligible in 2005 forIllinois Child Care Assistance. In

Illinois, a family’s income can rise approximately 85 percentabove the federal poverty levelbefore the family is no longer eli-gible for such assistance. Underthis standard, about half of Chicagochildren under 13 and about one-fifth of suburban children in CookCounty are income-eligible forIllinois Child Care Assistance.Note that in addition to theincome requirement, the IllinoisChild Care Assistance Programalso requires that all parentspresent in the family be in thelabor force or in training or school.Working parents are discussed insection B below.

Table V-2 breaks down the sameinformation on child population,poverty and low income for thesix regions of the county. Familiesin poverty and families with lowincomes tend to concentrate inthe western and southern parts of Chicago. The southern andwestern parts of suburban CookCounty also have more povertyand income eligibility than thenorth and northwestern regions.17

Up to 39 percent of children living in a Cook County regionare officially poor. With respect toincomes that make families eligi-ble for Illinois Child Care Assis-tance, in the six regions as few asfifteen percent and as many as 64 percent of children in differentage groups live in families eligiblefor Assistance.

Children with AllWorking ParentsPublic policy often supports work-ing families in particular. To esti-mate the demand for child care ina region such as Cook County,researchers also often start withthe number of families with everyparent working outside of thehome and ignore families with atleast one parent not in the laborforce. This approach neglects thefact that substantial numbers ofparents who are not in the laborforce still seek child care in orderto attend school or for other rea-

27

Section V: Public Dilemma: Who Needs Child Care? Who Needs Support?

Table V–2. Children in Cook County by Region, 2000 CensusN & NW West S & SW

N & NW C & W S & SW Suburban Suburban SuburbanChildren Chicago Chicago Chicago Cook Cook Cook

Under 3 Years 44,551 31,292 55,629 47,193 22,465 32,004

Ages 3 through 5 39,172 30,806 59,786 49,475 24,174 35,115

Ages 6 through 12 87,102 71,408 143,711 117,634 53,412 89,170

Under 3, In Poverty 7,331 11,887 17,304 2,569 2,562 3,742and % in Poverty 16% 38% 31% 5% 11% 12%

Ages 3-5, In Poverty 6,729 12,142 18,686 2,676 2,886 4,211and % in Poverty 17% 39% 31% 5% 12% 12%

Ages 6-12, In Poverty 15,682 27,800 44,595 6,475 5,671 10,722and % in Poverty 18% 39% 31% 6% 11% 12%

Under 3, Income Eligible 16,556 19,090 29,621 7,215 6,443 8,265& % Eligible* 37% 61% 53% 15% 29% 26%

Ages 3-5, Income Eligible 15,420 19,327 31,942 7,582 7,057 9,232& % Eligible* 39% 63% 53% 15% 29% 26%

Ages 6-12, Income Eligible 35,369 45,621 75,753 17,626 14,988 22,534& % Eligible* 41% 64% 53% 15% 28% 25%

* Income-eligible for Illinois Child Care Assistance. The income limit is 50% of state median income, orapproximately 185% of the federal poverty level, depending upon family size. The work requirement forIllinois Child Care Assistance is not factored in here. Ages of children both in poverty and income-eligibleare calculated from the proportions of all children in different age groups.

Table V–3. Children With All Present Parents in Labor Force2000 Census


Children Chicago Chicago Chicago Cook Cook Cook

Children Under 6 Years 41,778 26,678 56,394 51,614 23,105 38,38653% 49% 56% 55% 53% 61%

B

sons such as a disability or ill-ness. This approach also assumesthat all families with every par-ent in the labor force must turn toexternal sources for child care,neglecting the fact that familiesmight have other relatives avail-able to care for the children andthat many parents stagger theirwork schedules so one parent isalways available to provide care.It is important to keep these com-plexities in mind when reviewingthe data that follow on familieswith each present parent working.

Of the approximately 472,000children under age six in CookCounty in 2000, about 50 percent,or 238,000 children, lived in fami-lies in which all parents presentin the home were in the laborforce. This means either the sin-gle parent in a single-parent fam-ily or both parents in a two-par-ent family were in the laborforce.18 The percentage of childrenin these families in suburbanCook County is 56 percent whilein Chicago it is 53 percent. TableV-3 presents the number of suchchildren in the six regions of Cook County.

Children Eligible ForBut Without ChildCare Assistance For a family to be eligible for Illi-nois Child Care Assistance, everyparent present in the home needsto be working,19 and family incomecan be no higher than 50 percentof the state median income (roughly185% of poverty level) for a familyof its size. We’ve looked at chil-dren in families that are income-eligible in Tables V-1 and V-2above, as well as children under 6 with all present parents in thelabor force in Table V-3 above.This section takes the analysis toits next step: estimating the num-ber of children in the six regionsof Cook County who are eligiblefor Illinois Child Care Assistancebut who do not receive it.20

Table V-4 presents these estimatesfor the different age groups andregions. We estimate that in anygiven month, 10 percent of CookCounty children ages 12 and under,some 107,590 children, live in fami-lies that are eligible for but do notreceive Illinois Child Care Assis-tance. About 14 percent of Chicagochildren are in this group of un-served children, while the subur-ban Cook County portion is 6 percent.

Do all of these children haveunmet need for child care? Wecannot suppose that the parentsof every eligible child wouldchoose to use Illinois Child CareAssistance even if it were offeredto them. Some might prefer tohave a relative care for the child(with little or no payment). Someparents might not be able to finda child care provider to matchtheir off-hour or changing workschedules. Others might not beable to afford to pay a providereven if they receive Assistance.Some parents stagger their workschedules in order to share caringfor their children. Others mayhave enrolled children in an edu-cational program such as HeadStart or Illinois Pre-K and aresatisfied with those hours of care.

The figures in Table V-4, then,should be seen as an upper end ofa range rather than an on-targetestimate of unmet need for IllinoisChild Care Assistance.21 We can

say that as many as 107,590 chil-dren in Cook County eligible forIllinois Child Care Assistance arenot using it.

Our estimate shows a 7 percentdrop in the number of unservedchildren eligible for Child CareAssistance from July 2004 to July2005. While we are optimisticthat this improvement representsa wider delivery of Child CareAssistance to Cook County fami-lies that need it, we should alsonote that this estimate has impor-tant limitations. The estimate isbased on 2000 Census data onfamilies and children. It does notcapture changes in child popula-tion and family income (that is,changes in eligibility for ChildCare Assistance) over the last five years, nor does it reflect theexpansion in the number of chil-dren eligible for Illinois ChildCare Assistance since new eligi-bility rules in 2004.

28


Table V–4. Estimate of Unserved ChildrenChildren Eligible for Child Care Assistance But Not Receiving ItCalculated from 2000 Census and Illinois Child Care Assistance Program 2005 data


Children Chicago Chicago Chicago Cook Cook Cook

Under 3 Years 5,921 4,229 5,601 2,807 1,252 659

Ages 3 through 5 4,586 3,001 4,187 2,655 1,061 80

Ages 6 through 12 14,611 13,681 23,147 9,442 4,666 6,003

Total: 25,118 20,912 32,934 14,904 6,979 6,742

Cook County Total: 107,590

C

17 Here low income means below 185 percent of thefederal poverty level. Of course, a closer look ateach region would find that some smaller areaswithin a region have more heavily concentratedpoverty and lower incomes than others.

18 Technically the labor force includes unemployedpeople looking for work. We count these, sinceparents looking for work need child care. Another27 percent of children live in two-parent familiesthat have only one parent in the labor force.

19 In Illinois, parents may be in training or school, but in practice relatively few parents get approvalunless they work outside of the home.

20 To arrive at the measure of children with a possibleunmet need for child care assistance, we (1) com-bine information on income-eligibility and work-eligibility to estimate the number of children who are eligible for Illinois Child Care Assistance and(2) from this number, subtract the number of chil-dren who actually received that assistance in arecent month.

21 Of course, some parents who are currently ineligi-ble because they have higher incomes or who are in training or in school might have a need forchild care assistance and would use it if they wereeligible. In this sense, our estimate undercountssome need.

29

Section V: Public Dilemma: Who Needs Child Care? Who Needs Support?

PUBLIC DILEMMAS

The State of Illinois recently expanded the number of families eligible for Illinois ChildCare Assistance and has room to expand further under the federal child care blockgrant. Yet the working family of Denise and Ivan Williams, introduced earlier in thisreport, remains ineligible.

Most working families in Illinois earn more than the $32,500 that the family of Deniseand Ivan Williams earn annually. If they earned $2,131 less than that—$30,369—they would be eligible for Child Care Assistance.

Denise and Ivan Williams pay $5,000 annually for child care, over 15 percent of theirincome, while the national average spent on child care is about 7 percent.* Do theWilliamses deserve additional child care support? If so, do they deserve as much the$2,600 that would reduce their child care expenditure to 7 percent of their income?

Illinois policy makers, of course, feel that they face a dilemma in balancing fundingChild Care Assistance with funding other items, such as improving education andhealth insurance for children. And within the Child Care Assistance Program, the Statemust also balance two goals: increasing the number of families that receive Child CareAssistance and increasing the amount of Assistance that goes to individual familiesalready in the program.**

While others may disagree, most child care advocates believe that the State of Illinoiscan contribute more to both sides of the balance without threatening the public treasury.

** Like many working families they may also be eligible for a very modest child careincome tax credit.

** Either way, an increase would go directly to a child care provider and affect thequality of care that provider can offer.

A majority of infants and tod-dlers, 52 percent, are in license-exempt home care as well. We seethe biggest use of center care for3 through 5-year-olds, which isnot surprising as there are morecenter slots available for this agegroup. Also, center care is cheaperfor this age than for younger ages,and many parents wish to exposetheir preschool age children tomore formal social settings to pre-pare them for kindergarten.

Figure VI-2 presents differencesin use of center care, licensedhome care and license-exempthome care for the six regions ofCook County.22 Families withChild Care Assistance in theNorth and Northwestern parts of Chicago and suburban CookCounty tend to use centers morethan the rest of the county.Families in South and South-western Chicago and the Centraland West Chicago region have thehighest use of license-exempthome care.

There is only limited informationon the type of child care used byfamilies in Cook County and thereasons behind parents’ choices.Much of what we do know comesfrom data from the Illinois ChildCare Assistance Program and fromfamilies using Illinois Action forChildren’s Resource and Referralprogram. The results presented in this section, however, cannot be generalized to the entirepopulation.

In Figure VI-1, we show the types of care used by CookCounty families with IllinoisChild Care Assistance accordingto the age of the children in care.In each age group the use of homecare predominates over centercare, and license-exempt homecare is used more than othertypes of care except for ages 3 to5. The use of license-exempt homecare is especially high for schoolage children, at 70 percent for 6to 12 year olds and 89 percent forchildren over 12 with specialneeds.

Child Care Choices of Cook County Families

Section VI.

30

Figure VI-1. Type of Care Used by Child Age:Cook County Families With Child Care AssistanceSource: Illinois Child Care Assistance Program data, June 2005

Under Age 2 Age 2 Ages 3 to 5 Ages 6 to 12 13 and Over(special needs)

100%

50%

0%

22% 26%

52%

37%

22%

41% 46%

14%

39%

19% 11%

70%

5% 6%

89%

■ Center Care ■ Licensed Home Care ■ Exempt Home Care

Figure VI-2. Type of Care Used by Families with Child CareAssistance, By RegionSource: Illinois Child Care Assistance data, June 2005

100%

50%

0%

52%

21%

36%

20% 19%

69%

31%

19%

62%

83%

7% 18% 22%

37%

53%

18%

43% 51%

N & NW C & W S & SW N & NW West S & SWChicago Chicago Chicago Suburban Suburban Suburban

Cook Cook Cook

■ Center Care ■ Licensed Home Care ■ Exempt Home Care

Another source of information onparents’ child care decisionscomes from the Illinois Action forChildren Resource and Referralprogram. Parents use this servicebecause they want or need to finda caregiver beyond or in additionto a relative or friend theyalready know. Data from this pro-gram represent parents seekingmainly licensed home care or cen-ter care, though these parentsmay ultimately decide to uselicense-exempt home care.

Illinois Action for Children asksall parents who seek child carereferrals to complete a follow upsurvey on their search experience.In 2005, twenty-one percent offamilies responded to the survey.

Did parents have success in find-ing child care? Forty-seven per-cent of respondents said that theyhad indeed found child care,though we do not have a sense oftheir overall satisfaction with thecare they found. Another 31 per-cent said they were still lookingfor care. Figure VI-3 shows thecomplete breakdown of responses.

Finally we asked parents whatproblems they encountered whilesearching for child care. Forty-eight percent of families statedthey had no problems finding

care. Of families reporting one or more problems, the top issuesthey encountered were no open-ings, problems with schedules,or problems with the location ofcare. Of course, many of theseproblems are interrelated—aparent might find no openings at the cost they can afford in theareas in which they are search-ing. Figure VI-4 shows the fre-quency of problems encountered.

22 Since some parents use more than one type ofchild care while th.eir case is active, percentagescan exceed 100 percent.

31

Section VI: Child Care Choices of Cook County Families

Figure VI-3. Follow Up Survey: Ability to Find Child Care


Keeping Did Not Find Found No Decided NotFormer Care, Still Care Decision to Use

Care Looking Child Care

1,500

750

0

180

929

1,395

280 185

Other

Quality

Did Not TakeSubsidy

2%

Type of Care

Location

Curriculum1%

Schedule

No Openings

Cost

11%

10%

16%

15%

22%

13%

10%

Figure VI-4. Problems Encountered When Seeking Child Care


32


33

Finding the right child care is one of the most important deci-sions that a parent faces, andwith more options, the likelihoodis greater that parents will suc-ceed in finding the provider bestsuited for their child. It is not adecision to be taken lightly. Achild’s caregiver spends a signifi-cant portion of the child’s dayhelping him or her develop social,intellectual and physical skills,as well as personality, emotionalstability and self-esteem.

This report discussed the range of options families have, frominformal relative, friend or neigh-bor care, to more formal licensedhome-based care, to care in alarger setting like that at childcare centers. Within these generalcategories, each individual pro-gram has it own unique combina-tion of characteristics that par-ents may find attractive - perhapsan especially warm and experi-enced caregiver, a well-developedcurriculum, a caregiver with expe-

rience with a particular disability,or a colorful, inviting facility.Ideally a family’s ultimate deci-sion will be based on the pro-gram’s quality and ability to meetthe child’s individual needs.

Unfortunately, limiting factorsplay a role in the decision-makingprocess, particularly for middleand low-income families. Mostsignificantly, the high cost of cen-ter or licensed home programscan prohibit families from usingthese types of care. While theIllinois Child Care Assistance pro-gram helps some families accessthese services, not all familieswho need assistance qualify for it,and sometimes even with assis-tance, these child care settingsstill can be too costly.

Families are also limited by thenumber of child care openings intheir community. We find thisparticularly the case for parentsseeking infant care. Other fami-

lies find that it’s not just aboutfinding openings, but findingthem at the right times. A grow-ing number of families workoutside the traditional Mondaythrough Friday daytime schedule,yet most center and licensedhome settings do not offer care inthe evenings, overnight or onweekends.

These real life dilemmas greatlyreduce families’ child care options,and out of necessity other consid-erations are given precedenceover the quality of care. We hopethis report will serve as a usefulguide and resource to advocatesand policy makers working toimprove the accessibility ofquality child care for all familiesin Cook County and the State ofIllinois who want it.

Conclusion

34

Through out this Report we divideCook County into six geographicalregions: three in Chicago andthree in suburban Cook County.The map and tables on the nexttwo pages of this Appendix definethe six regions.

The most recognizable form ofChicago geographical units are theChicago Community Areas, whichcorrespond to city neighborhoods.This Appendix places the seventy-seven Chicago Community Areasinto three Chicago regions: Northand Northwest Chicago; Centraland West Chicago; and South andSouthwest Chicago.

The most recognizable Cook Countygeographical units are municipali-ties. The Appendix identifies thethree suburban Cook County regionsaccording to the Cook County muni-cipalities belonging to each region:North and Northwest SuburbanCook County; West SuburbanCook County; and South andSouthwest Suburban Cook County.

When presenting census data forChicago and Cook County in thisreport, we built our aggregateunits from data for the individualChicago Community Areas andmunicipalities. Our aggregatedata, therefore, may deviate some-what from aggregate data provid-ed by the US Census.

The Six Cook County Regions

Appendix 1

Chicago and Suburban Cook Regions

North and Northwest Suburban Cook

Arlington HeightsBarringtonBartlettDes PlainesEast DundeeElginElk Grove VillageElmwood ParkEvanstonFranklin ParkGlencoeGlenviewGolfHanover ParkHarwood HeightsHoffman EstatesInvernessKenilworthLincolnwoodMorton GroveMount ProspectNilesNorridgeNorthbrookNorthfieldNorthlakePalatinePark RidgeProspect HeightsRiver GroveRolling MeadowsRosemontSchaumburgSchiller ParkSkokieSouth BarringtonStreamwoodWheelingWilmetteWinnetka

West Suburban Cook

Bedford ParkBellwoodBerkeleyBerwynBridgeviewBroadviewBrookfieldBurr RidgeCiceroCountrysideForest ParkForest ViewHillsideHodgkinsIndian Head ParkJusticeLa GrangeLa Grange ParkLyonsMaywoodMcCookMelrose ParkNorth RiversideOak ParkRiver ForestRiversideStickneyStone ParkSummitWestchesterWestern SpringsWillow Springs

South and Southwest Suburban Cook

AlsipBlue IslandBurbankBurnhamCalumet CityCalumet ParkChicago HeightsChicago RidgeCountry Club HillsCrestwoodDixmoorDoltonEast Hazel CrestEvergreen ParkFlossmoorFord HeightsGlenwoodHarveyHazel CrestHickory HillsHometownHomewoodLansingLemontLynwoodMarkhamMattesonMerrionette ParkMidlothianOak ForestOak LawnOlympia FieldsOrland HillsOrland ParkPalos HeightsPalos HillsPalos ParkPark ForestPhoenixPosenRichton ParkRiverdaleRobbinsSauk VillageSouth Chicago HeightsSouth HollandStegerThorntonTinley ParkWorth

North and Northwest Chicago

Albany ParkAvondaleBelmont CraginDunningEdgewaterEdison ParkForest GlenHermosaIrving ParkJefferson ParkLake ViewLincoln ParkLincoln SquareLogan SquareMontclareNorth CenterNorth ParkNorwood ParkO’HarePortage ParkRogers ParkUptownWest Ridge

Central & West Chicago

AustinEast Garfield ParkHumboldt ParkLoopLower West SideNear North SideNear South SideNear West SideNorth LawndaleSouth LawndaleWest Garfield ParkWest Town

South and Southwest Chicago

Archer HeightsArmour SquareAshburnAuburn GreshamAvalon ParkBeverlyBridgeportBrighton ParkBurnsideCalumet HeightsChathamChicago LawnClearingDouglasEast SideEnglewoodFuller ParkGage ParkGarfield RidgeGrand BoulevardGreater Grand CrossingHegewischHyde ParkKenwoodMcKinley ParkMorgan ParkMount GreenwoodNew CityOaklandPullmanRiverdaleRoselandSouth ChicagoSouth DeeringSouth ShoreWashington HeightsWashington ParkWest ElsdonWest EnglewoodWest LawnWest PullmanWoodlawn

35

Appendix 1: Definitions of the Six Cook County Regions

36

Why Demand and Supply? Many analysts believe thatunderstanding the demand forand supply of child care is critical.Without such knowledge, we cannever know whether a regionsuch as Cook County has enoughchild care services. Nor can weunderstand why child care pricesare rising or what the effects ofrising rates are—for example,whether rising prices primarilydrive working parents away fromusing child care or primarilyencourage child care providers toexpand and provide higher qualitycare. Finally, understanding sup-ply and demand helps us under-stand ways to influence child careprices, expand the use of childcare among working parents andimprove child care quality. ThisAppendix discusses the basicconcepts of demand and supply inchild care, and shows why it is sodifficult to speak about themauthoritatively.

DemandFamilies with children who wantand can afford to place their chil-dren in child care are the sourcefor demand for child care in CookCounty. Their demand is simplyhow much child care services theywould buy at a going price. Ingeneral, the size of this demanddepends upon the number of chil-dren of child care age in thosefamilies, from infants to olderchildren who might need before-school or after-school care. Demandalso has deeper roots includingthese factors:

• Whether family incomes aresufficient to pay for child care,especially in comparison to theprices of other necessities thefamily buys.

• Whether families have accessto child care assistance pro-grams to help pay for childcare when they cannot affordto buy it directly. For example,working families’ access toIllinois Child Care Assistancesince 1997 has provided apowerful stimulus to demandfor child care in Illinois.

• Whether parents can afford tostay at home with children orreceive income from programssuch as the now-terminated Aidto Families with DependentChildren that allows them toremain home with children.

• Whether families have avail-able substitutes to purchasingchild care, such as these:

• Relatives who can care forchildren while parents work.

• Alternative care that is avail-able and subsidized (HeadStart, state pre-K programs,and so on).

• Work schedules that allowparents in two-parent familiesto share care—one caring forchildren while the other works.

• Parents’ preferences aboutletting others care for theirchildren. This factor behindparents’ demand oftendepends on the child’s age.

• Parents’ perceptions of thequality of care available.

How much child care Cook Countyfamilies will want to purchasedepends on all of these factors.With these factors in the back-ground, the amount of care fami-lies actually purchase and usedepends on the price and avail-ability (or supply) of this care.

SupplyIndividual providers, educators,non-profit enterprises, for-profitenterprises and public agenciessupply child care services in CookCounty by mobilizing people,facilities and materials for thepurpose of caring for children. AsSection II of this Report demon-strates, child care takes a varietyof shapes across Cook County,including providers in their ownhomes, caregivers who go to thechildren’s homes, non-profit andfor-profit centers, public and pri-vate preschools, after-school pro-grams and so on. Many child careprogram developers and directorsalso engage diverse agencies thatfinance, regulate zoning, license

The Demand for and Supply of Child Care —Basic Factors

Appendix 2

and accredit child care. Finallythey recruit in labor markets forthe child care workforce and con-tract with suppliers of goods andservices, such as food, buildingmaintenance and books.

Child care supply is based uponthe willingness and ability ofproviders to bring people andsuch resources together given thecost of the resources they need.Among the factors that we expectto influence the supply of childcare services in Cook County arethe following:

• The cost of resources such asfacilities, materials, equip-ment, supplies, overhead, andespecially employees.

• Public, non-profit or donorsubsidies of child care, includ-ing wage supplements if anyexist. For example, if a reli-gious congregation or a com-munity agency decides to sup-ply space rent-free or at a dis-counted rent, this will general-ly increase the supply of childcare services in Cook County.

• Regulatory conditions includ-ing business, zoning, child careaccreditation and licensingrestrictions. These change lit-tle from year to year, and so donot change child care supplymuch from year to year. Theycan, however, affect the overall

level of child care operations.And in some localities, zoningchanges have seriously affect-ed providers.

How much child care providerswant to supply in Cook Countywill depend on all of these factors.Even non-profit providers mustcover their basic costs and respectthese restrictions on offering serv-ices. The amount of care that theyactually provide at any given timedepends on the income providersderive from this care.

Using Supply and Demand Analysis

In economic theory, the price ofchild care services and the amountactually bought is determined bylevels of demand and supply. Ifthe demand for child care isgreater than the amount supplied,the price will rise as parents seekscarce slots for their children. Onthe other hand, if supply exceedsdemand, providers may drop theirprices to attract more children.That is the so-called law of supplyand demand.

To determine whether or not achild care market actually worksthis way in Cook County wouldrequire a special study. The keypoint we want to underscore hereis that because so many factors

affect demand and supply under-standing the total effect will beextremely complex.

Supply and demand analysismust incorporate this complexityin order to be useful. It must firstof all be based on excellent knowl-edge of all the factors identifiedabove as influencing child caredemand and supply. Leaving outany factor could spoil an analysis.Supply and demand analysismust, moreover, weigh the effectsof all the factors influencing thechild care market simultaneously.So complex is supply and demandanalysis, in fact, that most econo-mists rely on sophisticated statis-tical and mathematical tools toperform it.

Short of that sophisticated, com-prehensive analysis, supply anddemand analysis will be verypartial or one-sided, and when weuse it we should acknowledge it as such. For example, suppose weknow that new child care centerlicensing regulations will requirechild care teachers to have moreeducation credits in college. Wemight predict that salaries ofthese teachers must rise to reim-burse them for obtaining theadditional credentials, and thatwill increase the cost of providingchild care. Higher costs of provid-ing child care, in turn, will lower

the amount of child care supplied,as some providers will leave thebusiness because they cannotafford to pay the newly creden-tialed teachers what they demand.We can conclude that if nothingelse is changing in the child caremarket, lower supply will driveup the amount parents need topay to find scarcer slots.

Too frequently, however, analystsdo not acknowledge what we juststated in the italics. They leavethe impression that they havetold the entire story. We shouldalways acknowledge that otherevents in the child care marketmight outweigh the factor we areraising at the moment. Perhapsteacher salaries will not rise thatmuch, or the new credentials willattract enough new children tocenters to cover the higher costs.Or perhaps in the next month,for example, the State of Illinoiswill greatly increase its subsidiesto child care providers. That will lower costs and could evenreverse the impact of highersalaries on supply—if nothingelse is changing.

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Appendix 2: The Demand for Child Care—Basic Factors

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Our information about child careproviders in Cook County comesfrom three different sources:

1. The Illinois Action for Chil-dren Resource and ReferralProgram, which refers parentsto providers who match theirneeds, can count the providersin its database.

2. The Illinois Child CareAssistance Program can countthe providers who care forchildren with child careassistance.

3. The Illinois Department ofChildren and Family Services(DCFS) lists programs that ithas licensed in Cook County.

The first two programs are admin-istered in Cook County by IllinoisAction for Children for the Stateof Illinois. They have the bestcurrent lists for license-exempt

child care centers and homes,but because not all centers andhomes participate in the Stateprograms, the lists are incomplete.The DCFS list of licensed childcare centers and homes is thebest source of licensed programs,but contains no information onprograms without licenses. Thesethree sources complement eachother well. Even together, however,they do not form a complete list-ing of child care in Cook County.They do not fully capture thechild care activity in Cook Countythat is legally exempt from licens-ing or the otherwise illegal care.

Table A3 presents the count ofchild care providers availablefrom the best sources of informa-tion. It covers the four main typesof child care: home and centerproviders that are either licensedor license-exempt.

Sources for Data on Child Care Providers in Cook County

Appendix 3

*Signifies the best currently available source of information for each kind of care.

Licensed and license-exempt center counts do not include summer camp-only programs.

Note that the TOTAL row adds dissimilar homes and centers together and should be considered a total onlyfor recorded child care establishments irrespective of size.

Table A3. Child Care Providers in Cook County in 2005Best Sources by Type (All data from June 2005)

Type of Program 1. Source* 2. Count

Licensed Centers Department of Children and Family Services 1,219

License-Exempt Centers Illinois Action for Children Resource and Referral 632

Licensed Homes Department of Children and Family Services 3,934

License-Exempt Homes Illinois Child Care Assistance Program 26,087

Total — 31,872

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Chicago Community Areas(CCA). Seventy-seven formaldesignations of Chicago neighbor-hoods. See Appendix 1.

Child Care Resource andReferral Agency (CCR&R).There are seventeen agenciesthroughout Illinois whose goal is to work with parents, businessleaders, government officials, andchild care providers to make highquality child care available toIllinois families. This includessupporting child care providers,preparing individuals to enter the child care field, and assistingfamilies in locating child care andaccessing the Illinois Child CareAssistance Program. IllinoisAction for Children is a CCR&R.

Family Child Care Homes(FCC). Child care located inproviders’ homes. While there are 26,000 known license-exemptchild care homes in Cook County,sometimes the term FCC referssolely to the 4,042 licensed childcare homes. In this report, itrefers to all 30,000 child carehomes.

Illinois Child Care AssistanceProgram (ICCAP). Programestablished using the federalChild Care Block Grant followingwelfare reform to provide childcare assistance for working fami-lies earning less than 50 percentof the state median income.

Illinois Department ofChildren and Family Services(DCFS). In this report: DCFSgrants and enforces licensing ofchild care centers and homes. Italso helps pay for child care forfoster children.

Illinois Department of HumanServices (IDHS). Home of theBureau of Child Care andDevelopment which administersmany of the State’s child careprograms, including the IllinoisChild Care Assistance Program,Child Care Resource and ReferralAgencies and the Quality Countsprogram.

Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and ReferralAgencies (INCCRRA). A mem-ber organization consisting of 17 regional Child Care Resource& Referral (CCR&R) agenciesserving communities throughoutthe state of Illinois. Its goal is tomake high quality and affordableearly care and education opportu-nities available for families andchildren of Illinois.

Income-Eligible. A family whoseincome falls under 50 percent ofthe state median income, makingit income eligible for the IllinoisChild Care Assistance Program.Income eligibility in Illinoisdepends upon family size.

Licensed Child Care Centers.Centers that have been certifiedby the Illinois Department ofChildren and Family Services asmeeting certain health and safetystandards and that are subject toinspection by DCFS.

Licensed Child Care Homes.Homes that have been certified by the Illinois Department ofChildren and Family Services asmeeting certain health and safetystandards and that are subject toinspection by DCFS.

Glossary of Terms

License-exempt Child CareCenters. The Child Care Act of1969 excludes some facilities fromthe requirement to be licensed.These exclusions from the licens-ing requirement may be found inSection 2.09 of the Child Care Act of 1969 [225 ILCS 10/2.09]and are explained in Departmentrules 89 Ill. Adm. Code 377,Facilities and Programs Exemptfrom Licensure. Centers that arelegally exempt from licensinginclude those run by a religiousinstitution, government program,school, college or university.

License-exempt Child CareHomes. Sometimes called “family,friend and neighbor child care” or“kith and kin child care.” Childcare in a home that is legallyexempt from licensure becausethe provider cares for fewer thanfour unrelated children. In theIllinois Child Care AssistanceProgram, the provider receiving a payment must have passed abackground check.

Non-Traditional Hours ofCare. Hours of child care that fall outside the typical Mondaythrough Friday day time schedule(defined in this report as 5 am to 7 pm). This includes evening,overnight and weekend care, aswell as days and times thatchange from one week to the next.

Reimbursement Rates. Thepayment levels approved forcenters, licensed homes andlicense-exempt homes under theIllinois Child Care AssistanceProgram. These rates vary acrossregions of Illinois. Parents paypart of the rate to providers asparent co-payments, while theIllinois Child Care AssistanceProgram pays the remainder.

State Median Income. Theincome at which half of thefamilies in Illinois earn more andhalf earn less. The Illinois ChildCare Assistance Program deter-mines a family’s eligibility using a different state median incomefor different family sizes.

Special Needs Child Care.Refers to a child care providerwith experience or training incaring for a child with an emo-tional, physical, developmental orspecial health need or disability.

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