Investigating the impact of childcare closures on developmental outcomes of young children in low-income families

Recent public health disruptions and childcare center closures exacerbated difficulties in access to child care, education, and family support services. Low-income families and at-risk children, already vulnerable, were overrepresented in areas with high rates of child care center closures. This is especially concerning in a context where children exposed to environmental risk factors like poverty and maltreatment face significant barriers in early identification of developmental disorders and early intervention. Child care centers can be instrumental for timely identification and reporting developmental delays, and early intervention is key to prevent further developmental disorders. Early education and quality child care have been found to help vulnerable children’s development in many dimensions. Therefore, the potential impact of public health disruptions in general, and of childcare center closures in particular, on vulnerable children’s development is concerning. To date, little is known about the quantitative impact of these disruptions on vulnerable children’s outcomes. The purpose of the proposed analysis is to measure the effects of decreased access to child care centers on developmental screening outcomes of infants and toddlers in low-income and at-risk families who receive services from a home visitation program. In this context, this project also seeks to elucidate how pre-existing health disparities disproportionately hurting low-income families and at-risk children affect this impact. Inferring causality about these issues is typically challenging because the family’s characteristics that affect their childcare options and location decisions may also determine the child’s developmental outcomes. To tackle this issue, we will exploit the geographic variation in sudden child care centers closures as a natural experiment generating exogenous variation in availability. Correctly assessing any expected deteriorations in the developmental progress of vulnerable and at-risk children in these communities is crucial to determine early intervention actions that can address this issue. Results from this work will increase our understanding of the potential long-term consequences of lack of access to childcare via its effect on vulnerable children. Our findings will also speak to the broader issue of the consequences of lack of family support for our children’s development, and can serve as guidelines for policies and health initiatives targeted at vulnerable children and their families.