Who Cares? Motivations for Unregulated Child Care Use

Abstract

This article explores the motivations for unregulated child care use within Canada. Using focus group data from 109 mothers, we analyze unregulated child care use within a policy context in which regulated child care is only available for 20% of preschool children. The key drivers for unregulated care were framed by participants as benefits: trust in a known caregiver with similar values, offered in a home-like environment. Importantly, one driver that was not seen as beneficial was the lack of affordable and accessible, regulated child care. Sometimes used as a last resort amid regulated child care shortages, unregulated care became the driver of how mothers organized their time. Within the constraints of a limited regulatory child care environment, we argue that Mathieu’s (2016) concept of demotherization is beyond the grasp of the majority of Canadian mothers.

Comparative Study of Parents' Satisfaction Rate toward Baiturrahmah Daycare Service

“…"We've been expecting something good and we get them," said one sample who wish not to be named, "We can hope for nothing less." Their statement further solidifies the views argued by Kemp (2016), Kovács (2018) and Breitkreuz & Colen (2018), as briefly mentioned in the Discussion and Introduction sections of this article.…”

“…We draw from our brief mention of the views argued by Kemp (2016), Kovács (2018) and Breitkreuz & Colen (2018). Parents tend to quality the babysitter or daycare service prior to deciding whom to trust.…”

“…Foods and nutrition remain a staple must for their growth to remain steady and balanced. Parents tend to qualify the babysitter or daycare service prior to deciding whom to trust (Breitkreuz & Colen, 2018;Kovács, 2018;Kemp, 2016).…”

Ontario as a case study for modernizing Home Child Care licensing and support

“…This leads directly to the conclusion that, aside from price, parents can make informed ECEC choices for their children, including choosing any form of UHCC. However, the extent to which this is true is unclear, because of a surprising lack of data related to UHCC, including parents' preferences for licensed versus unlicensed care (but see the noteworthy work of Breitkreuz and Colen 2018; Davidson et al 2020).…”

“…Research has demonstrated that the most vulnerable children benefit the most from access to high quality care (Magnuson et al 2007;McCartney et al 2007). However, the reality is that in Canada the quality of care children receive in most HCC settings is mediocre at best (Doherty et al 2000(Doherty et al , 2006Japel et al 2005;Bigras et al 2010). These findings are similar to those in the US (Galinsky et al 1994;Hillemeier et al 2013;Hatfield et al 2015;Bassok et al 2016).…”