Early Child Care in Single-Parent and Two-Parent Families

In 2019, a higher percentage of children in single-parent families than in two-parent families were in weekly childcare (65 versus 58 percent). A new Data Point from the National Center for Education Statistics, Early Child Care in Single-Parent and Two-Parent Families: 2019, compares childcare arrangements for children from birth through age 5, in single-parent families and two-parent families. It also examines problems finding childcare. Key findings include: Among children in care, those in single-parent families spend more hours in care than those in two-parent families (34 versus 30 hours per week). Among children in care, those in single-parent families more often had multiple types of child care (for example, relative care and center-based care) (26 versus 17 percent). Cost was most often reported as the main problem in finding child care, for children in both single-parent and two-parent families. The report uses data from the Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) survey, administered as part of the 2019 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES:2019).