DOI: 10.3886/icpsr27001
title: Child Care and Children with Special Needs: Challenges for Low Income Families, Maine, United States, 2002-2005
title: Archival Version

description: This project was a mixed-method, multi-level study of low income families of children with special needs and the system which served them, focusing primarily on child care, employment, and balancing work and family. This approach included an analysis of existing national and state-level data sets, statewide surveys of parents and child care providers, and a field study to look at these issues at the local level in three selected communities in the state of Maine: Portland, Lewiston/Auburn, and Presque Isle. While the primary focus was on access to child care, this project also looked at the related issues of welfare reform, the impact of work force participation on having a child with special needs, and the issue of coordination of early intervention services with the child care system. The goal was to understand better the issues facing low income families with special needs children across the programs and policies affecting their employment, access to child care, and meeting the special needs of their children. In the first year of the study, qualitative research was conducted to learn directly from parents about their experiences. In the second and third years, a field study of three communities was conducted as well as statewide surveys and analysis of national data bases to supplement the data collected in the first year. This data collection is comprised of the two quantitative data files produced during the second and third years of the study which are described in more detail below.
Child Care Provider Survey: The Child Care Provider Survey was a statewide survey of child care providers selected at random from the list of licensed providers in Maine given by the state licensing agency. Questions focused on the perspective of child care providers on the issues of access and inclusion that parents raised.
Parent Survey: The Parent Survey was a statewide survey of parents and children aged 0-18 years with diagnosed special needs (enrolled in Maine Care - Katie Beckett and Title V eligibility groups - and Child Development Services early intervention caseloads). Questions focused on child care utilization and work experiences in relation to children with special needs.
Researchers interested in information about the qualitative data should contact the Child Care and Children with Special Needs Project Web site.
description: The mixed-methods study methodology included:

<strong>Focus groups and individual in-depth interviews</strong> with low income (below 225 percent of the federal poverty level) parents with at least one child age six or under with special needs. These were conducted in three communities in Maine (Bath/Brunswick, Lewiston/Auburn and Presque Isle) and in Connecticut (Waterbury, Manchester and Norwich). The researchers also interviewed with parents in Portland (N=41).
<strong>A field study</strong> consisted of in-depth interviews with TANF caseworkers and case workers at the multi-barrier agencies (which help TANF families overcome barriers to employment), physical, occupational and speech therapists, child care providers, staff at Child Care Plus ME (which provide assistance to child care providers in serving children with special needs), and staff at the child care resource and referral agencies (called RDCs in Maine) in three communities in Maine: Presque Isle, Lewiston/Auburn and Portland (N=66).
<strong>A statewide survey of a random sample of licensed child care providers</strong> in Maine, which examined the issues faced serving children with special needs (N=179).
<strong>A statewide survey of parents of children with diagnosed special needs</strong> across the income spectrum in Maine. Parents responded to a mailing sent to 4,000 families receiving services from Child Development Services (CDS) and 2,200 families enrolled in Maine Care (Title V and the Katie Beckett Waiver eligibility groups) (N=441).
<strong>An analysis of data from families with children participating in the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF).</strong> This analysis allowed researchers to compare work patterns of families with and without a child with special needs and among different types of special needs. In order to generate sample sizes large enough to reliably investigate relationships between child special needs and parental employment outcomes, data were extracted from all three waves (1997, 1999 and 2002) of the NSAF and merged to create a pooled sample of primary caregivers and their children. The pooled sample consists of 81,841 caregivers who are either the biological parent to the child or step or adoptive parent who answered questions about 104,556 children under the age of 18. Eleven percent (N=8,914) of these families reported having a child with a mental or physical disability and 5.2 percent (N=4,240) reported having a child in poor health. Among the sampled children ages 6 to 17, 7 percent (N=4,713) are reported by their parent to have behavioral or emotional problems.
description: Response Rates: Child Care Provider Survey: 41.6 percent
Parent Survey: 7 percent
description: Child Care Provider Survey: A random sample of 430 providers from the list of licensed providers in Maine given by the Division of Licensing, Child Care Licensing Unit at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services were mailed a self-administered survey.
Parent Survey: Entire caseload of parents of children with special needs -- 6200 parents (approximately 4000 on the Child Development Services (CDS) list and 2200 on the Maine Care list) were mailed a packet explaining the study and asking them to call for an interview. The Sample does not include children with undiagnosed health conditions or disabilities, or disabilities/conditions too mild to qualify for Maine Care or CDS.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Child Care Provider Survey
DS2: Parent Survey Public-Use Data
DS3: Parent Survey Restricted-Use Data
description: Child Care Provider Survey: A random sample of 430 child care providers in Maine drawn from state agency lists of licensed providers.
Parent Survey: Entire caseload of parents of children with special needs on the Child Development Services list and on the Maine Care list.. Smallest Geographic Unit: State
description: mail questionnaire; telephone interviewMore information about this study including information about the parent interviews, field study, and analysis of data from the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) can be found on the Child Care and Children with Special Needs Project website.Qualitative data collected for this study are not available as part of the data collection at this time.The variable <strong>Q15G</strong> was suppressed in the public-use version codebook file for DS 3, Parent Survey Restricted-Use Data, to protect respondent confidentiality and prevent disclosure risk.