Juanita M. Firestone, Ph.D.
MRPI Faculty Associate

Issue

Universal access to affordable, quality early education and care for children from birth to age twelve are important community goals. The issue of affordable quality childcare was raised repeatedly in focus groups conducted by the San Antonio Department of Community Initiatives during February 1999. This may in part reflect new welfare reforms, which require many mothers with young children to be employed in order to receive benefits. In addition limitations on the number of years benefits can be received require many mothers, regardless of the number or ages of their children to sustain full time employment. Many of the jobs being filled by welfare recipients in San Antonio are in the service sector (particularly the hotel/motel sector) and demand non-traditional working hours.

Data and Methods

A probability survey of 1,223 San Antonio residents was conducted by Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute (MRPI) Faculty Associates (from UTSA) in cooperation with the San Antonio Department of Community Initiatives (DCI) during February and March of 1999. The sample size allowed for precise estimates of citywide public opinion (±3%). Data from the survey are particularly valuable because they allow meaningful comparisons to be made across geographic quadrants, as well as a comparison of individuals residing in the inner city to those in the suburbs. Respondents were asked to supply demographic information, to report on their perceptions of about various unmet needs in the community, with a strong focus on family/childcare issues, and about different ways of meeting and funding those needs. A weight variable was created using 1990 U.S. Census data for each sex by race and ethnic category to insure appropriate demographic representation.

Discussion

Of the respondents to this survey, 19% (243) reported having children requiring day care. As shown in Figure 1, among those needing child care, more respondents had one child (20%) needing care, an additional 11% had two children needing childcare, and smaller percentages had more than that. While the percentages reporting 3,4, 5 or 6 children needing care are small they typically represent those with greatest need.

The majority of respondents (60%) reported their children needed daycare for five days out of the week, although 4% of respondents reported needing care for seven days of the week (see Figure 2 ). Another 17% reported needing care for their children for 4 or fewer days. The remaining 19% reported needing daycare, but not having any currently available. Although the percentage is small, those needing care for seven days have greater difficulty in finding available options and incur greater costs.

As seen in Figure 4, 28% of respondents report childcare occurs in their home, and 72% report that they take their children elsewhere for daycare. Further analyses showed that of those who report that their children are cared for in their home, the majority (57%) reports their primary childcare arrangements are with relatives. Of this same group 30% hire someone to come into their home to take care of their children. Another 7% report leaving their children with friends and 5% report their children come home after participating in after school or sports activities.

Among those who reported satisfaction with childcare arrangements, the largest percentages used either a commercial day care center or after school programs. A large percentage of respondents who reported their children stayed with a relative also reported being very satisfied.

While the percentage of individuals whose children were in sports programs was quite small, they all reported being very satisfied with that arrangement. This finding is likely to reflect the belief that sports activities teach a variety of important skills and values to children. Only a small proportion of respondents reported being dissatisfied with current childcare arrangements. The largest percentages of individuals who are very dissatisfied with their childcare arrangement are those who report their child staying at home with someone other than a relative or friend.

As seen in Figure 5, 32% of respondents reported that they had children under 13 years of age but reported no childcare usage. This may reflect in part the high proportion of low income families in San Antonio. It seems very likely that a large part of those who reported no childcare usage have a need for quality affordable childcare services.

Recommendations

Clearly there is a high level of unmet need for greater access to childcare services in San Antonio, and recent welfare reforms mean that the need is likely to continue to grow. Efforts to provide quality, affordable day care will also have to focus on expanding the hours of operation so that individuals working non-traditional hours (outside the typical 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. range) are left without care for their children.