Child care access for families raising children with disabilities

• Published in: Children and youth services review Vol. 156; p. 107377
• Main Authors: Costanzo, Molly A., Magnuson, Katherine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Child care; Child care policy; Disability; Maternal employment; Disability; Child care policy; Maternal employment; Child care
• ISSN: 0190-7409; 1873-7765
• DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107377

•Young children with identified disabilities childhood have an increased likelihood of attending center-based child care and are more likely to be using part-time care.•Families with a young child with a disability report lower child care costs.•We find no differences in rates of change of maternal employment once children enter kindergarten by child’s disability status. Access to affordable, quality child care is a crucial employment support for families and may be particularly salient for families with young children with disabilities. Without access to quality care, parents may not be able to find and maintain employment, increasing the likelihood of economic precarity. We use data from the ECLS-B to examine whether child care arrangements differ by child’s disability status. We find that having an identified disability in childhood, and particularly IEP receipt, is associated with increased likelihood of attending center-based and part-time care as well as lower child care costs. To investigate the extent to which child care access may be impacting maternal employment, we employ a difference-in-difference framework to examine changes in maternal employment rates at kindergarten enrollment by disability status. We find no difference, or possibly a smaller increase, in maternal employment at kindergarten enrollment for mothers of children with disabilities compared to mothers of typically-developing peers. Findings emphasize the importance of understanding the overall policy environment for children with disabilities and their families.