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

Get Book Here

Book Description

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

Get Book Here

Book Description


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

Get Book Here

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.

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

Get Book Here

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.

The Interrelationships of Child-care Use, Spouse Employment, Army Satisfaction, and Retention in the U.S. Army

The Interrelationships of Child-care Use, Spouse Employment, Army Satisfaction, and Retention in the U.S. Army PDF Author: Hyder A. Lakhani
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Job satisfaction
Languages : en
Pages : 60

Get Book Here

Book Description


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

Get Book Here

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.

Technical Report

Technical Report PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military research
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Get Book Here

Book Description


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

Get Book Here

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 Interrelationships of Child-Care Use, Spouse Employment, Army Satisfaction, and Retention in the U.S. Army

The Interrelationships of Child-Care Use, Spouse Employment, Army Satisfaction, and Retention in the U.S. Army PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 53

Get Book Here

Book Description
This report analyzes the interrelationships of child-care use, the Army wife's employment/earnings, her satisfaction with Army life, and her desire for soldier retention in the Army. Data from the Survey of Army Families 1986/87 and 1991/92 are analyzed using regression equations. The results reveal that child-care use increases with an increase in the Army wife's employment and earnings and vice versa. An increase in Army wife's satisfaction with child-care use increases her satisfaction with Army life that, in turn, enhances her desire for soldier husband's retention in the Army. Since retention is increased, providing child-care services is likely to be cost-effective compared with the alternative--recruiting and training a soldier.

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

Get Book Here

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.

The Military Family

The Military Family PDF Author: James Martin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313096317
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Get Book Here

Book Description
Today, there are more military family members than there are total uniformed service members. Sixty percent of the military are married, including more than eighty percent of all career-status personnel, and many have small children. They come from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, and they represent a wide variety of family types, including single parents, dual career military couples, and families with eldercare responsibilities. In an effort to cut costs, many of the services utilized by military families are being privatized or outsourced to civilian service providers. This guide is designed to benefit anyone who provides services to these families, particularly those who may have little or no prior knowledge of the unique nature of military families and military family life. This book contains research-based information about the unique needs of military families across various duty-related conditions, as well as within the context of military career demands. Its multi-service focus addresses the provision of human services in both peace and wartime. Topics include military spouse employment, retirement issues, family support during deployments, the New Parent Support Program, and the experiences of adult children of military parents. The authors encourage an understanding of military community-based programs and services, and they offer the reader numerous resources for collaboration with the military community.