Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

For low-income working parents, subsidized child care provided by the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) supports parents’ employment and, in turn, can favorably influence families’ economic stability and well-being. Though working Hispanic families are as likely to be eligible for CCDF benefits as their peers, their CCDF utilization rates are lower than eligible black families and white families. We ask whether state and local level variation in CCDF policy and practice may influence utilization in ways that differentially affect take-up among eligible families according to race/ethnicity. CCDF is a federally funded program, however, it is administered and implemented at the local level and thus, states have discretion in setting various aspects of program policies. We focus on 7 states that represent a heterogeneity of racial/ethnic communities currently and historically, and examine their state-level CCDF policies and practices paying particular attention to dimensions of state programs that may differentially affect Hispanic families’ program access and utilization.

Our study focuses on the CCDF policy and practices of seven states--Arkansas; California; Illinois; New York; New Mexico; North Carolina; and Texas-- that have large or growing Hispanic populations and are located in diverse regions in the country. In all states, except for New Mexico, the proportion of Hispanic families using CCDF is less than the proportion of low-income, working families that are Hispanic. State guidelines establish several dimensions of eligibility that matter in the context of our investigation. We specifically examine four broad categories that have not conventionally been systematically documented in other existing archives of state policies: 1) populations who receive priority status; 2) eligibility requirements; 3) application documentation requirements; and 4) administrative accessibility.

We review two complementary types of data to understand state-level policy and practice. First, we look at policy manuals and administrative codes to uncover details of how CCDF programs are established by state law. Second, we look online to mimic the applicant experience to uncover how state-level CCDF programs are electronically implemented and communicated to potential applicants.

Our preliminary work suggests that some dimensions of policy and practice, such as requesting documentation of social security numbers, may interfere with eligible Hispanic families interest or intention of applying. We also find examples of policy features, such as accepting ESL classes as a substitute to work for eligibility, that may facilitate program enrollment among Hispanic families. These findings help to understand how details of decentralized program policies and practices may affect Hispanic family CCDF utilization and ultimately affect Hispanic family economic well-being.