Steps and Guidelines for Research Using Research to Improve Child Care for Low-Income Families Steps and Guidelines for Research Child care needs are a shared responsibility of parents, employers, and communities, as well as government. While some government actions affect families at all income levels, government is particularly concerned about low-income families. Resources are allocated to ensure that these families have access to the child care they need to become self sufficient and that their children receive the early care and education they need to succeed. To this end, government needs information that can help determine if public funds have been invested in ways that meet these objectives. Research can equip state administrators with data that can help them make decisions about allocation of these public funds.
Research can be helpful in several ways.
It can establish justification for what is being done and meet the needs of children. Guide implementation of specific policies. It can help to answer questions about current proposed care policies. It can provide the information needed to monitor programs and help them run more efficiently and successfully. Ongoing monitoring of programs can also trigger further questions.