The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development provided financial support for the study. The agency is part of the National Institutes of Health. Child care is a major issue in the United States and other countries. The Children s Defense Fund is a group concerned with improving the quality of child care. It reports that thirteen-million young American children are cared for by someone other than their parents until they are old enough to begin school.
Children usually begin school at the age of five or six.
The Children s Defense Fund reports that almost thirty percent of young children are in child care centers. Such centers usually care for thirteen or more children while their parents are at work. About fifteen percent of young boys and girls are cared for by someone in a private home. Five percent stay in their own home with someone other than a parent or family member. About twenty-five percent of young children stay with a family member.