This study will describe both what working parents use, want, and need in non-parental care and early education programs for their children (the demand side) and also the characteristics and availability of child care and early education programs that will meet those needs (the supply side). The picture the study will provide will facilitate comparisons between the situation two decades ago (when the last study of these issues was done) and today--when changes in parental employment, availability of early care and education, and other societal changes have greatly impacted the use of non-parental care and the types of care parents (particularly low-income parents) are able to choose.

NORC and its partners, the Chapin Hall Center at the University of Chicago and Child Trends, will undertake the design phase of this study, which is sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families. Design work will include sample design for nationally representative samples of households with children through age 12 years and providers of early care and education (including families, friends, and neighbors); cognitive testing of measures and survey items and development of survey instruments; and feasibility testing of instruments, methodology, and sample plans.