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Project Description

Due to current federal and state welfare reform changes, many single mothers will be required to go to work and subsequently place their children in non-parental child care arrangements. The resulting effects are likely: 1) the social environments in which the poor children grow up are likely to change, and 2) the young child’s growth trajectory of development and early learning may change.

Project duration: Jun 1997 - Dec 2004

Sites studied include New Haven, Connecticut
Tampa, Florida
San Francisco, California
Santa Clara, California

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

800 welfare recipients, applicants, and low-income households (unmarried mothers who have a child age 30-42 months).

Recent Findings in Brief

02/01/04: Growing Up in Poverty Project: Child Care in Poor Communities: Early Learning Effects of Type, Quality, and Stability

Interim Impact Findings

• A consistent, positive, and strong relationship between rates of child development in the cognitive domain and participation in center-based programs.
• Developmental effects were strongest for measures of school readiness and for children who were in a center at both Waves I and II.
• The center effect remained sizable even in models that included other possible determinants of development, such as age, ethnicity , mother's education, mother's work and welfare status, and income.
• Children also display stronger cognitive growth when caregivers are more sensitive and responsive, and stronger social development when providers have education beyond high school.
• Children in family child care homes show more behavioral problems but no cognitive differences.

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