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. No program offered care for sick children.
. Parents complained that some services were difÍicult to obtain:
- At odd hours. Most services were open from approximately 7 am to 6 pm,
and did not offer extended-hours or sèrvices for parents who work second
or third shifts. For example, one-third of low-income participants in the
local GAPS program had jobs that required them to work weèkends,
evenings, or nights when few services exist.
- On school holidays, in-service days, school vacations, and snow days as
well as when their children were sick. Regardless of anangements that
parents make individually for their children, nearly all need some form of
care to cover some of these events, making it difficult for both parents and
services to accommodate occasional and often unanticipated mãximum
demands relative to service supply. Indeed, r2vo of GAps participants had
missed an average of 17 hours of work during the last month alone because
of child care problems.
- These limitations contribute to the catch-as-catch-can character of
obtaining nonschool-hour services, especially for low-income parents.
A single mother entering the workforce, for example, cannot easiiy find
care to accept a second- or third-shift job, and many other parents must
scramble for other forms of care (i.e., "emergency") or take off from work
to cover unanticipated snow days or to care for a sick child. These unexpected
absences do not help new TANF employees build an employment
record of reliability and conscientiousness. on the other hand, providers
cannot be on duty 24 hours a day, so some accommodation between parent
needs and provider capability must be found.
' Substantial variation in attendance exists from child-to.child and time-totime,
making it difficult for parents to piece together a totar package of
services and for agrncies to plan and maintain enrollments near capacity.
\Mhile approximately half of the children attend four or five days per wèek -
and relatively few attend only once per week, a substantial number of children
attend organized services only part time, many preferring other forms of care
at lower cost when available. At the same time, part-time and often unpredictable
attendance makes it difficult for agencies to plan, staff, and fund sèrvices
close to their capacity.
Quality
'
Programs in Allegheny county compare favorably in quarity with the
average national program as assessed in 1991, but is this level ofquatity
"ayerage" today and is 'raveraget' the standard of practice and seivice -
that Allegheny County desires? Specifically, relative to the national average