Risk perception, regulation, and unlicensed child care: lessons from Ontario, Canada

Literature review on early childhood education and care for children under the age of 3

“…Specifically, findings suggest that the quality of the home-based settings [measured using the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scale (Arnett CIS)] is associated with toddlers' socio-emotional outcomes (Colwell et al, 2013 [67]), as well as cognitive and language competence (Lahti et al, 2015[68]). Additionally, other studies, which report results for both centre-based and home-based care combined [measured by the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS) and Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCRS)], have also shown high-quality processes to be beneficial for children's cognitive scores (Ruzek et al, 2014[20]; Votruba-Drzal et al, 2013 [69]).…”

“…Research conducted in the United States has examined specifically whether high process quality may be more important for children from lower income or less educated, family contexts, but the findings are mixed (Ruzek et al, 2014[20]; Votruba-Drzal et al, 2013 [69]). A nationally representative, longitudinal cohort study found no evidence that poverty (i.e.…”

“…low income) influenced the quality effects for children at two years of age (Ruzek et al, 2014[20]). Another study, also using a large data set from the United States, found a moderating effect between process quality and poverty on child outcomes, suggesting that high-quality ECEC can help to diminish the cognitive skills gap between toddlers from more and less advantaged family (Votruba-Drzal et al, 2013 [69]).…”

Child care policy and child care burden: Policy feedback effects and distributive implications of regulatory decisions

“…It assumes that parents can act as a source of quality assurance, capable of monitoring and evaluating the services being delivered (Blank, 2000). Yet, no independently verified information on quality or injury incidence is available to parents to enable assessments of the relative quality or safety of care (White et al, 2018;Macdonald, 2018;Malik & Hamm, 2017). It also assumes that parents have similarly equal access to all forms of ECEC when they make their 'choice'.…”

“…Instead, federal and provincial governments intervene through financing in the form of tax relief for working parents and subsidies to cover a portion of the costs for low-income parents, and oversight and regulation of most but not all parts of the sector. In Canada, all provincial governments permit home child care (HCC) providers to operate without a license so long as they adhere to minimal rules around the number and age of children cared for at one time (White, Perlman, Davidson, & Rayment, 2018). Legislation and regulations are premised on the assumption that parents are informed consumers who are capable of exercising quality assurance and "voting with their feet" should they be unhappy with the quality of their child's care.…”