Need for High-Quality Child Care Affects Military Readiness and Retention

Need for High-Quality Child Care Affects Military Readiness and Retention PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This research brief presents focus group and survey results that point to several options for improving the Department of Defense's approach to addressing the child-care needs of military families.

Need for High-Quality Child Care Affects Military Readiness and Retention

Need for High-Quality Child Care Affects Military Readiness and Retention PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This research brief presents focus group and survey results that point to several options for improving the Department of Defense's approach to addressing the child-care needs of military families.

Providing Child Care to Military Families

Providing Child Care to Military Families PDF Author: Joy S. Moini
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 083303927X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
The Office of the Secretary of Defense asked the RAND Corporation to assess the Department of Defense (DoD) child-care demand formula as a tool for translating information on military families into measures of potential child-care need and to suggest ways that the tool might be improved. The authors assess the validity of the DoD formula in meeting child-care needs, analyze the factors that influence key child-care outcomes, and address the broader issue of how DoD can refine its goals for military child care.

Examining Child Care Need Among Military Families

Examining Child Care Need Among Military Families PDF Author: Susan M. Gates
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833039024
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 127

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Book Description
The Department of Defense (DoD) supports the largest employer-sponsored system of high-quality child care in the country. Through accredited child development centers (CDCs), family child care (FCC) homes, youth programs, and other before- and after-school programs, the DoD provides care to over 174,000 military children aged 0 through 12 years. To evaluate the system's ability to meet the child care needs of military families, DoD needs information on the magnitude of potential need. For a number of years, the DoD has been using a formula that translates the basic demographic characteristics of the military population into an estimate of the potential need for child care (see the companion monograph Providing Child Care to Military Families: The Role of the Demand Formula in Defining Need and Informing Policy, MG-387-OSD, by Joy S. Moini, Gail L. Zellman, and Susan M. Gates). The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) asked the RAND Corporation to collect data on child care need and child care use, assess the validity of the DoD formula, and recommend improvements to the formula. Data for the assessment came from a 2004 survey of military families about child care issues. This technical report describes and analyzes the data from that survey. It documents survey methods, defines three outcomes of potential interest to DoD (reported child-care usage, unmet child-care need, and unmet child-care preference), presents detailed results of an analysis of these outcomes among military families, and analyzes the relationships between these outcomes and military readiness and retention. For example, the data identified an important relationship between unmet child-care preference and propensity to leave the military: Families that express unmet child-care preference-that is, they are using one form of child care but would prefer another-are also more likely to report that child care issues might drive them to leave the military. This report will be of interest to officials responsible for DoD child-care policy and other quality of life issues. It should also be of interest to child care managers in other federal organizations, child care researchers, and child care policymakers at the national, state, and local levels who grapple with the issue of estimating the need for child care.

Options for Improving the Military Child Care System

Options for Improving the Military Child Care System PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 79

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Book Description
The U.S. military child care system is the largest employer-sponsored child care system in the nation, widely recognized for providing high-quality care. A range of different settings enables the system to meet military parents' needs for reliable, high-quality care while recognizing parental preferences concerning environment, size (the number of children cared for in that provider setting), and flexibility. Subsidies based on family income ensure affordability. Despite its size, the military child care system serves only a small percentage of eligible families needing child care assistance. Care in Child Development Centers (CDCs) is quite costly for DoD to provide; care for the youngest children is particularly expensive since parent fees are based on family income and not on the cost of care. Care in Family Child Care (FCC) homes is substantially less costly. There is little evidence that the care provided in DoD-run CDCs and FCC homes addresses DoD employer goals of increased readiness, retention, and recruitment. Moreover, families that cannot or choose not to use CDC or FCC care receive no help covering their child care expenses. Moreover, they may rely on care that is mediocre, given their often limited financial resources and the fact that the average quality of care in civilian communities is generally not high. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness asked RAND researchers to use the insight they have gained during several previous studies on military child care to reexamine military child care as a compensation issue and evaluate options for transforming the current military child care system. In this paper, we provide an overview of the military child care system and assess the system's success in cost-effectively meeting DoD readiness, retention, and recruitment goals. In particular, we consider the logic of DoD offering military child care as an in-kind benefit.

The Determinants of Child Care Use and Retention in the U.S. Army

The Determinants of Child Care Use and Retention in the U.S. Army PDF Author: Hyder A. Lakhani
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Child care
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description


Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society

Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309489539
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
The U.S. military has been continuously engaged in foreign conflicts for over two decades. The strains that these deployments, the associated increases in operational tempo, and the general challenges of military life affect not only service members but also the people who depend on them and who support them as they support the nation â€" their families. Family members provide support to service members while they serve or when they have difficulties; family problems can interfere with the ability of service members to deploy or remain in theater; and family members are central influences on whether members continue to serve. In addition, rising family diversity and complexity will likely increase the difficulty of creating military policies, programs and practices that adequately support families in the performance of military duties. Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society examines the challenges and opportunities facing military families and what is known about effective strategies for supporting and protecting military children and families, as well as lessons to be learned from these experiences. This report offers recommendations regarding what is needed to strengthen the support system for military families.

Options for Improving the Military Child Care System

Options for Improving the Military Child Care System PDF Author: Gail Zellman
Publisher: Occasional Papers
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
"The evidence presented in this paper questions whether the current U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) system of in-kind subsidies for child care is meeting DoD recruitment, readiness, and retention goals or service member needs in an optimal way. DoD appears to be reaping limited benefits from the substantial subsidies provided to families that use Child Development Centers. Many families cannot or choose not to use the subsidized on-base DoD programs; these families receive no support for child care costs. The authors' findings suggest that the DoD child care system could change in a number of ways to better meet DoD and family needs. First, it could redistribute resources within the current system. Rethinking priority policies from the perspective of both child care need and the degree to which care characteristics fit with likely DoD and service member needs would be another important way to change the system. DoD may also wish to expand the child care benefit to cover more military families and a broader set of child care needs. Alternatively, DoD could expand access to child care through the use of cash benefits, vouchers, and/or negotiated discounts with local providers that meet quality standards, while continuing to provide some amount of DoD Family Child Care homes and Child Development Center care. DoD may also want to invest more resources in assessing the value of child care benefits, as it does for other military compensation components." -- provided by publisher.

The Determinants of Child Care Use and Retention in the U.S. Army

The Determinants of Child Care Use and Retention in the U.S. Army PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 73

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Book Description
This report examines the use of Army child care facilities and their impact on spouses desire for retention and career plans of soldiers. Data from the Annual Survey of Army Families, 1987, for officers and enlisted spouses are analyzed. The results reveal that child care use increases with an increase in spouse employment, soldier rank, volunteer time spent in military or civilian organizations, and number of months spent at a location. Enlisted soldiers use more informal care, such as baby sitting, and officers use more formal care, such as child development centers (CDCs), perhaps because the former cannot afford to pay the fees for the CDCs. The spouses' desire for soldiers' retention increases with an increase in child care used, spouses' satisfaction with Army life, number of dependent children, soldier's age, number of months at current location, and soldier's total years of service.

Education of Military Dependent Students

Education of Military Dependent Students PDF Author: Hernick A. Demello
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781626184817
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Many families struggle to balance their job demands with ensuring that their children have access to a high-quality education, and for military families this struggle can be exacerbated by the highly mobile nature of their service. Family concerns about education affect readiness and retention of military personnel, according to the Department of Defense (DOD). The majority of children of military families in the United States attend public schools. A 2008 DOD study recommended offering military families a public charter school option in areas with poorly-performing local schools. This book examines the guidance needed for military base schools on startup and operational issues; a review of charter schools on military installations; and a study recommending better oversight to improve services for military dependent students with special needs.

Army Community Support Programs

Army Community Support Programs PDF Author: Patricia Devine
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Soldiers
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description