Caring for Infants and Toddlers: Issues and Ideas. A Guide for Journalists and Policymakers.

This issue of "The Future of Children" focuses on the daily care of infants and toddlers in the United States, highlighting information on caregiving arrangements, employer and government initiatives, promising strategies, and resources for use by journalists and policymakers. The guide begins with a summary of major findings related to infant and toddler care, including the percentage of infants and toddlers in nonparental care, child care costs, and the development of models for supporting employed parents. The remainder of the report is presented in four sections. Section 1 details parents' employment patterns and their need for child care, and infants' and toddlers' need for high-quality child care services. Section 2 presents information on employer supported child care services and other types of support as well as federal and state government initiatives for providing assistance for child care, tax policies that benefit children, and innovative funding strategies to support young children. Section 3 describes three promising strategies for supporting families with young children: (1) expanding family leave; (2) improving child care options; and (3) the military child care model. Section 4 provides information on resources for use by journalists and policymakers, including a list of experts on child care and early childhood development, organizations, and web sites. (Contains a 30-item annotated bibliography.) (KB)