Factors That Influence Families' Search for Child Care and Early Education. Research Highlight. OPRE Report #2022-70

Various factors influence families' search for child care and early education (CCEE). These factors can be grouped into four dimensions of access: (1) reasonable effort to find CCEE; (2) affordability; (3) meets parents' needs; and (4) supports child development. All states provide a consumer education website to help inform families' child care search, but families may have difficulty finding and navigating these sites. Improvements to states' consumer education website can better promote equitable access to information. This highlight draws key findings from two reports focused on families' search for child care and states' efforts to provide parents with consumer education to help inform their child care search process: (1) "Parents' Reasons for Searching for Early Care and Education and Results of Search: An Analysis Using the Access Framework" (ED613557); and (2) "Supporting Families' Access to Child Care and Early Education: A Descriptive Profile of States' Consumer Education Websites" (ED616310). [This report was produced through the Child Care and Early Education Policy and Research Analysis (CCEEPRA) project.]