Sadly, this need often goes unmet. Each week nearly 5 million children are left unsupervised after school. This lack of supervision is associated with increased drug use, juvenile delinquency, and crime. Nearly half of working families and mothers who are able to find child care rely on family members, including parents and other relatives. The rest arrange for care through private providers.
Parents often face steep costs and questionable quality of care.
This expense can be prohibitive for lower and middle class families. At such earning levels, child care expenses can easily consume one third or more of the household budget. Child care affordability is a particularly challenging barrier to welfare recipients seeking to enter the workforce. However, it is not certain that all states clearly convey this information to recipients. Parents may also have difficulty obtaining quality care near their homes or work that meet their scheduling requirements.