Taylor & Francis

As women approach parity with men in their representation in the U.S. labor force, child care has become a critical concern both for families and for community development professionals. In this paper, we review recent literature on parental child care decisions and on socio-economic differences in child care utilization. We contrast two bodies of theoretical and empirical research on the determinants of child care arrangements, comparing models of individual consumption choice with models of socially constructed or situated patterns of action.

The purpose of this research study was to increase our understanding of how families living in poverty successfully meet life challenges. Family resiliency provided the theoretical framework for examining family coping and adaptation. This study used a purposive sample of women (N = 128) in families with children attending Head Start. All families lived below or at poverty level, most with 11th grade education or high-school/GED diploma. Content analysis methods were used for data analysis.

Just as more poor people in America now live in suburbs than in primary cities, immigrants are more likely to live in suburbs than in the urban core. This study examines the nonprofit safety net in select Chicago suburban municipalities to assess the capacity and accessibility of these service providers relative to the location and need of low-income immigrants. We identify differences between immigrant service providers and mainstream organizations, particularly their willingness and ability to reach out to and serve immigrants and to analyze their role as mediating institutions.

Should Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) be the tool for implementing the new Sustainable Development Goals, as they were for the Millennium Development Goals? Surprisingly, despite the controversies around them, there has never been a quantitative evaluation of PRSPs. This paper estimates the impact of having a PRSP on various targets of the Millennium Development Goals.

Factors that promote healthy relationships have been understudied. The objective of this study is to examine mother–child verbal and nonverbal communication (separately), relationship quality and children’s positive social behaviours in an at-risk sample framed within the developmental psychopathology approach. Mothers are part of a 35-year longitudinal prospective study who, as children, were rated by peers on measures of aggression and social withdrawal. These mothers, with their own 9- to 13-year-old children, participated in conflict and game-playing tasks.

This exploratory study examined the impacts of New York's Universal Pre-kindergarten (UPK) program as perceived by directors at child care centers and preschools not receiving state funds. Although only partially implemented, UPK's mixed-delivery system grants monies to a substantial number of qualifying community-based early care and education centers, resulting in a funding imbalance between participating and nonparticipating centers. Phone interviews were conducted with the directors of non-UPK programs across New York State (N = 46).

This study uses early descriptive data from the National Evaluation of Welfare to Work Strategies (NEWWS) Child Outcome Study, a sub-study of the larger random assignment evaluation of the Federal JOBS program, to answer two timely and important questions. First, what factors predict father involvement among nonresident fathers of young children who receive welfare? And second, is nonresident father involvement associated with better outcomes for these children?

Social support protects women from various negative consequences, yet we have little understanding of how rural women acquire and utilize social support. Using interviews of 24 women in a North Dakota community, this research sought to understand how rural women were supported as new mothers. One, familial women and partners were vital supports to these women. Two, medical professionals were expected to provide only the “medical part,” consisting of medical information and delivery procedures. Finally, dangers of limited social support were examined.

Parenthood among adolescents who are homeless is poorly studied. Understanding how these adolescents perceive parenthood is important for providing effective health care, public policy, and social services. Fifteen fathers and 16 mothers, ages 18 to 22, from a shelter in Philadelphia participated in semistructured interviews. Coding and analysis involved standard qualitative methodologies.

In the current study, we aimed to determine the effects of Healthy Families Massachusetts (HFM), a statewide home visiting program, on young mothers’ experiences with homelessness during enrollment and after program completion. Data were drawn from a longitudinal, randomized control trial evaluation of HFM. Data collection occurred across 5 time points between 2008 and 2015 from a sample of 704 participants.