Grandma watches the kids while mom works…. Dad drops off his daughter at the neighbor’s so he can go to a doctor’s appointment…. Auntie picks up her niece from day care because mom and dad have to work late…. Scenarios like these are familiar to every parent. Family, friend, and neighbor care (also called informal care) is the most common form of nonparental child care in the United States. It meets the needs of working parents of all income levels, but is particularly important for low-income working parents because it is flexible, affordable, and accessible. Informal care can fulfill families’ needs for culturally consistent care, exposing children to their parents’ home language, for example. Parents also value informal care because they might feel more comfortable leaving children with trusted family members or friends than with unfamiliar child care providers. However, even with informal care’s many advantages, quality can be a concern—levels of cognitive stimulation in informal settings has been shown to be low, for example.

Despite its prevalence, its important advantages, and concerns about its quality, family, friend, and neighbor care has not garnered as much attention from researchers and policymakers in recent years as care in formal settings such as day care centers and preschools. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s Children, Families, and Communities (CFC) program seeks to bring more attention to informal care by identifying family, friend, and neighbor caregivers in California; learning about their needs for support; and funding and evaluating promising approaches to enhance the quality of children’s experiences in informal settings. Mathematica Policy Research conducted a study for CFC to answer three research questions:

1. Who are informal caregivers in California?

2. What are their existing networks and needs for support?

3. What are promising outreach methods and approaches to meet their needs?

Drawing upon a literature scan of recent national and California-specific research, conversations with state- and county-level organization staff with knowledge of issues related to informal care, and interviews with parents and informal caregivers at community organizations in Alameda and Santa Clara counties, the Mathematica team summarized its findings in three issue briefs and will be hosting a webinar on June 5 to present and discuss these findings. Please see the Informal Caregivers Research Project website for more information and to register for the webinar: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/our-publications-and-findings/projects/early-learning-strategy-informal-caregivers-research-project. By joining the webinar and contributing to the discussion, you can bring renewed attention to this important sector of the caregiving community!