2007 Child Care Portfolio

R&R cover: Finding Affordable, Quality Child Care Remains a Challenge for California and Kern Families.

The 2007 California Child Care Portfolio is a statewide and county-by-county report documenting child care supply and demand. The report combines data on licensed child care facilities and parents' request for child care gathered by local child care resource and referral agencies with information on child care costs and demographic information to better help us understand the struggles parents face finding child care.

The 2007 Portfolio includes:

A comprehensive California report highlighting child care supply, demand, and cost issues in the context of current policy, demographic, labor force trends, and family stories documenting the employment situation and child care choices of families throughout CA with infants and toddlers. 58 separate county level reports in an online format highlighting child care supply, demand, and cost issues in the context of current policy, demographic and labor force trends.

The struggle is far greater for families with infants and toddlers. The 2007 Portfolio, the 6th in a biennial series of statewide and county-by-county statistical reports, reflects child care costs, supply, and demand. Data for the 2007 Portfolio was prepared by the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network, a statewide organization, and the 61 locally-based, state-funded resource and referral agencies that work to improve the quality, availability, and affordability of child care.

The Resource & Referrals like that at CCCC talk with parents daily as they counsel them in their search for quality child care. This year marks the 10-year anniversary since the publication of the first Child Care Portfolio, issued in 1997.Ten years ago both TIME and Newsweek magazines had cover stories about breakthroughs in early brain development and the importance of quality care for infants. However, infant care is expensive and difficult to find. With average child care costs in California running at $10,745 for an infant in a licensed center, care is unaffordable for many, if not most, California families. But the challenge of finding quality, licensed infant care is not limited to cost. Supply is also a serious issue, especially for infants. Statewide, licensed child care is available for only 27% of children with parents in the labor force. Only 5% of child care slots in licensed care centers are for infants and toddlers.

To access the full report and Kern County data pdf symbol: :

The 27-year-old California Child Care Resource & Referral Network is a nonprofit association of state-funded member agencies in counties across California. Resource and referral programs (R&Rs) are a unique hub in the world of child care, connecting parents, providers, and policymakers in each community. R&Rs help parents find child care by providing referrals to licensed programs and by offering important information on how to recognize and choose quality care. R&Rs help child care providers by offering training in child development, safety, and business skills, and they help policymakers by gathering standardized data, identifying key areas of local need, and participating in policy discussions.

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