How Is Instability in Child-Care Subsidy Use Associated with Instability in Child-Care Arrangements?

Federal child-care subsidies through the Child Care and Development Fund support low-income parents’ employment and their children’s development. However, unstable patterns of subsidy use may be associated with instability in care arrangements and with potential negative consequences for parental employment and child well-being. Using a unique data set that links longitudinal administrative subsidy records to survey and child-care calendar data, we examine associations between multiple measures of subsidy instability and child-care instability. Results from survival analyses show that children who have an early subsidy exit are at higher risk of leaving their first subsidized child-care provider. Multiple measures of instability in subsidy use—an early subsidy exit, subsidy spell length, and multiple subsidy spells—are each also associated with children experiencing more total provider changes (both subsidized and unsubsidized). Our findings suggest that recent policy efforts have the potential to promote child-care stability for children receiving subsidies.