child care in cook county - Illinois Action for Children

Executive SummaryFinding child care has never beeneasy—our reports in previous years,as well as this one, have outlined theissue in great detail. However, childcare has taken on an even moreimportant and complex role in thelives of Illinois’ families as Illinois facesdramatic budgetary and economicchallenges.As such, it is important to look at boththe need for child care and the capacityof child care available in Cook County.Children of working parents spend asignificant percentage of each daywith a child care provider; as a result,a parent’s choice of child care providersis undoubtedly one of the mostimportant decisions they will make.For myriad reasons including but notlimited to: insufficient capacity, highcost of care and provider schedulesthat do not match a parent’s workinghours, many children end up with theprovider their parent(s) can find giventhose limitations rather than the highestquality child care available.In 2009, the child care picture for familiesin Cook County looked like this:• A family earning $46,069—the 2008Chicago median family income—would pay anywhere from 15 percent(for licensed home child carefor an infant or toddler) to 23 percent(for center-based care in Chicagofor an infant) of a Chicago family’stypical income. This makes childcare cost-prohibitive in many cases.• The cost of center care is rising atan alarming rate—much higherthan consumer prices are risingnationally. While consumer priceshave risen 25 percent since 2000,center rates have seen sharpincreases of anywhere from 32percent to 61 percent over thatsame time period. The only exceptionto this is in infant and toddlercare in Chicago, which has onlyseen costs rise by about 20 percentsince 2000.• As a comparison, the cost of infantand toddler care exceeds the costof college tuition and fees. At$9,452, these higher educationcosts would cover only 90 percentof infant care costs in Chicago andjust 79 percent of infant care insuburban Cook County centers.• For another cost comparison, thecost of infant and toddler child carein Chicago centers is equally asexpensive as the cost (in 2008) oftotal rent in a year for the typicalChicago family: $10,356.• Traditionally the fastest rising costsare those of before- and after-schoolcare. Since 2000, those priceshave increased by 61 percent to65 percent in Chicago centers andhomes, and 45 percent to 46 percentin suburban centers and homes.• Unlicensed home care—mostoften provided by a family member,friend, or neighbor—is still the onlyaffordable option for many families,particularly in this difficult economicclimate. This is often the onlyoption for middle-income familieswho are either already earningtoo much income to be eligible forChild Care Assistance or, for avariety of reasons, are no longereligible for assistance.• With a total of 4,503 slots, fewercare options exist for infants thanany other age group under schoolage; a similar situation exists fortoddlers. It is costly for centers toprovide care for these age groups,leading many families with infantsand toddlers to look to family childcare homes for care.• While the number of child carecenters offering evening or weekendhours is still scarce, the percentagehas increased in recentyears. Five (5) percent of childcare centers offer evening care,a noticeable increase from the 3percent that offered care in 2007.• Relatively low pay makes it very difficultfor child care centers to retainhigh-quality staff, particularly teachers.• Only 34 percent of families surveyedthat had no children with specialneeds reported that they had problemsfinding child care in CookCounty, as compared with 45 percentof families that had a child withspecial needs. Additionally, only 38percent of families with childrenwith special needs said they hadfound child care by the time of thesurvey, compared to 44 percent offamilies without children with specialneeds. Families that had childrenwith special needs were morelikely to still be undecided abouttheir child care arrangement.• In 2009, 10 percent of familiesusing Illinois Action for Children’sreferral service sought a providerwho could speak a language otherthan English, the predominant languagerequested being Spanish.• Of the providers who are on the IllinoisAction for Children Referral database,19 percent of licensed homeproviders reported they fluentlyspeak a language other than English,while 43 percent of centers said theyhave a staff member who speaks alanguage other than English.Illinois is at a critical moment whenit comes to supporting child care andearly education. State budget shortfallsthreaten the ability of the ChildCare Assistance Program (CCAP),Preschool for All, and other statefundedearly education and afterschoolprograms to serve Illinoisfamilies. It is our intention, throughthe data contained in this report, todemonstrate that child care is notsomething that should be cut from theState’s budget or its human priorities.1