Moving beyond the child care debate toward implications for social and political agendas

an article by Michael J. MacKenzie (Columbia University, USA), David Liu (University of California, San Diego, USA) and Arnold J. Sameroff (University of Michigan, USA) published in Children and Youth Services Review Volume 35 Issue 1 (January 2013)

Abstract

Early nonmaternal child care, for at least some portion of the week, is now the reality for most families in the United States [and in the UK].

Ongoing debates surrounding what these changes mean for our society have focused on the possible negative consequences of extended nonmaternal care and the potential impact of such arrangements on children’s later development.

The NICHD-Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development has made great strides toward addressing methodological limitations in previous research through a series of landmark examinations of child functioning from transition to school through 15 years-of-age.

The primary goal of this commentary is to put the child care findings into a broader developmental, social, and political context by reframing the discussion to move beyond the current daycare debate and consider implications for social policy and research agendas.

Given that daycare has become a normative social institution, we first consider what the research findings mean for the healthy social–emotional and cognitive growth of children. Second, we articulate the implications of the data for social interventions to improve those outcomes. Finally, we address the issue of what political changes are necessary to produce those improvements.

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