Caregiving Research

Families use a variety of care arrangements when their children are young, including care provided by parents, family members, friends, neighbors, and early childhood educators across a range of settings.

To better understand the care of young children today, and how policymakers can better support the care of young children in the future, CSSP conducted qualitative research in 2024 and 2025.

We interviewed over 70 parents, caregivers, and early childhood educators across the country to learn about families’ experiences with child care, their preferences moving forward, and how policymakers can more effectively support the care families want and use. We also conducted follow-up interviews with child care providers serving immigrant families to better understand how changes in immigration policy are affecting families with young children in real time.

Our reports, briefs, and blogs below highlight our findings from this research.