Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The number of families raising a young child with an identified disability has increased substantially in recent decades. Despite consistent evidence that these families face greater constraints in balancing employment and caregiving, the research had not assessed whether current federal policies succeed in supporting parents parental labor market participation. Finding appropriate non-parental care for children with disabilities is challenging, and paying for it is often costly. Young children with disabilities may need more highly-trained caregivers and other accommodations, which are not readily available in many child care programs. Yet, access to appropriate child care is a crucial support for parental employment, and thus financial stability, may also confer developmental benefits. To date, there is little evidence about whether these families are able to access appropriate child care, and how this impacts parental employment. In particular, whether the current set of policies—including IDEA, child care subsidies, and Head Start—are meeting families’ needs and supporting access to early education and care is not clear. This study seeks to understand: (1) how and whether parents of young children with disabilities are accessing child care; and (2) the role of the current set of child care policies for young children with disabilities in supporting parental employment.

We use data from the Department of Education’s nationally-representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey- Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). The ECLS-B has a sufficient sample of children with disabilities and provides detailed information about: (1) disability status; (2) child care arrangements; (3) parental employment, and (4) relevant service use under IDEA and other resources. We conduct descriptive analyses of child care use for children with and without disabilities. To answer whether current policies have been effective in supporting access to care, we use a difference-in-differences model comparing parental employment rates of children with and without disabilities, before- and after- kindergarten enrollment.

We expected to find a larger effect on employment for parents of children with disabilities at kindergarten enrollment, reflecting difficulty finding care and the inadequacy of current policies in supporting access to child care. However, preliminary results suggest a greater effect on maternal employment at age 4, with an 8 percentage point increase in the unadjusted employment rate for mothers of children with disabilities compared to 4 for mothers of typically-developing children and essentially no difference at kindergarten enrollment (~3 percentage point increase for both). We also find an initial drop in part-time employment at age 4, with an increase at kindergarten enrollment. Additional analysis will consider the role of center-based child care, heterogenous effects of specific health conditions, and potential impacts of specific policies and programs such as IDEA, Head Start enrollment, and subsidy use.

Findings can inform policymakers and researchers about the extent to which the current menu of federal policies are supporting labor market attachment and thus potentially economic self-sufficiency for families raising children with disabilities. This may be especially salient in light of recent concerns about the growth of disability benefit receipt and changes to the overall social safety net.