The effects of child care subsidies on children's health and developmental outcomes

Using a subsample of the Fragile Families and Child Well-being data set of 1430 low-income families with young children, the present study examines the direct and indirect effects of child care subsidies on children's health and developmental outcomes. The current investigation focuses on the indirect mediating effects of child care subsidies on child development as they are transmitted through mothers' employment, income, depression, and parenting. The results indicate that child care subsidies were positively indirectly associated with child cognitive development. Mothers who received child care subsidies were more likely to be employed and have higher incomes than were those that did not, and these characteristics were associated with better cognitive development in their children. There were also significant pathways found from child care subsidies to mothers' employment, family income to maternal depression, and parenting quality to children's cognitive development. No significant effects of child care subsidies on children's health and behavior problems were found in the current data set. The findings suggest that child care subsidies are beneficial to mothers and indirectly beneficial to their children. Thus, these findings suggest policy interventions and implications for practice.