2011 The Palm Beach County Family Study (Full Report)

most likely to seek help with concerns related to legal issues (49%) and housing (39%). The percentagesof mothers who had concerns about their children’s development and who sought help were somewhatsmaller than the percentages who sought help for basic needs. Sixty percent sought assistance forconcerns they had regarding their child’s physical development, over half (56%) sought help for concernsover their child’s language and communication abilities, and over a third (40%) sought assistance forconcerns they had regarding their child’s getting along with peers, siblings, and adults. For children 5years of age or older, over three-quarters (89%) sought help with their older children’s academic progress,and 86 percent sought help for concerns they had regarding their children’s homework.Table 55. Mothers Who Sought Help for Concerns over Time aService Area% Mothers bYear 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5Healthcare for mother or children 89 100 82 73 98Childcare (including subsidy) 33 52 55 54 80Child’s physical development 22 50 63 41 60Getting enough food 51 20 58 38 65Child’s doing homework (children > 5) 0 49 36 59 86Child’s language and communication 27 32 48 50 56Child’s school attendance (children > 5) 31 0 100 0 60Housing or emergency shelter 41 40 31 34 39Paying rent or bills 32 30 24 23 36Family planning or birth control — c 44 11 56 26Employment 17 30 20 31 38Legal issues 25 20 7 25 49Dental care 11 28 11 37 32Child’s learning problems 27 32 0 39 6Child’s academic progress (children > 5) — — 14 0 89Child’s social problems 20 12 9 21 40Child’s attention problems paying attention 16 32 19 0 25Mother’s reading or writing skills — 11 23 19 37Child’s eating problems 13 22 30 17 8Mental health or substance abuse 23 0 30 14 21Parenting information 37 17 19 10 5Transportation 17 18 3 18 31Child’s anger problems 17 12 11 23 19Domestic violence — — — 10 29Clothes for children 8 20 1 15 7Child’s sadness, depression, shyness, orwithdrawal16 0 20 0 13Translating things into English — 8 3 3 3a Data were weighted to adjust for oversampling of mothers from the Glades and mothers screened “at risk.”bPercentage of mothers who sought help for a concern. Note that the denominator or the number of mothers who did not receivehelp varied by item (see Table 51).c Item not included in survey.Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago 100