Impact of COVID-19 on Families' Experiences with Child Care: Listening Sessions with Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Geographically Isolated Families
Abstract
In Fall 2020, remote interviews and listening sessions were held to learn from parents about their experiences and needs related to finding and using childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten sessions were held with Native American/American Indian, Latinx, African American, and rural families. Results highlighted family resiliency in a time of tremendous stress, and showed the ways that families were managing to balance work, family, and child-specific needs, despite job loss and escalating costs of care. Families shared they relied on a “patchwork” of family, friends, and neighbors to provide child care, and felt the quality was low.