Download or read book Options for Improving the Military Child Care System written by Gail Zellman and published by Occasional Papers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The evidence presented in this paper questions whether the current U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) system of in-kind subsidies for child care is meeting DoD recruitment, readiness, and retention goals or service member needs in an optimal way. DoD appears to be reaping limited benefits from the substantial subsidies provided to families that use Child Development Centers. Many families cannot or choose not to use the subsidized on-base DoD programs; these families receive no support for child care costs. The authors' findings suggest that the DoD child care system could change in a number of ways to better meet DoD and family needs. First, it could redistribute resources within the current system. Rethinking priority policies from the perspective of both child care need and the degree to which care characteristics fit with likely DoD and service member needs would be another important way to change the system. DoD may also wish to expand the child care benefit to cover more military families and a broader set of child care needs. Alternatively, DoD could expand access to child care through the use of cash benefits, vouchers, and/or negotiated discounts with local providers that meet quality standards, while continuing to provide some amount of DoD Family Child Care homes and Child Development Center care. DoD may also want to invest more resources in assessing the value of child care benefits, as it does for other military compensation components." -- provided by publisher.
Download or read book Options for Improving the Military Child Care System written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. military child care system is the largest employer-sponsored child care system in the nation, widely recognized for providing high-quality care. A range of different settings enables the system to meet military parents' needs for reliable, high-quality care while recognizing parental preferences concerning environment, size (the number of children cared for in that provider setting), and flexibility. Subsidies based on family income ensure affordability. Despite its size, the military child care system serves only a small percentage of eligible families needing child care assistance. Care in Child Development Centers (CDCs) is quite costly for DoD to provide; care for the youngest children is particularly expensive since parent fees are based on family income and not on the cost of care. Care in Family Child Care (FCC) homes is substantially less costly. There is little evidence that the care provided in DoD-run CDCs and FCC homes addresses DoD employer goals of increased readiness, retention, and recruitment. Moreover, families that cannot or choose not to use CDC or FCC care receive no help covering their child care expenses. Moreover, they may rely on care that is mediocre, given their often limited financial resources and the fact that the average quality of care in civilian communities is generally not high. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness asked RAND researchers to use the insight they have gained during several previous studies on military child care to reexamine military child care as a compensation issue and evaluate options for transforming the current military child care system. In this paper, we provide an overview of the military child care system and assess the system's success in cost-effectively meeting DoD readiness, retention, and recruitment goals. In particular, we consider the logic of DoD offering military child care as an in-kind benefit.
Download or read book Improving the Delivery of Military Child Care written by Gail Zellman and published by RAND Corporation. This book was released on 1992 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study was undertaken to identify ways to improve the delivery of Child Development Services on military installations. Interviews with policymakers and visits to military installations revealed that 1) the goals of Child Development Services Systems are multiple and not clearly defined, and consequently do not always translate into practice; 2) demand for child care needs to be more carefully assessed, and decisions about how much child care to provide and to whom should be made; and 3) heavy reliance on Child Development Centers promotes "fair weather" readiness, providing care as long as children are not ill and their parents are working regular hours. Ill children and irregular working hours create significant care gaps. A more systemic approach to the provision of care that addresses inevitable gaps in care should be undertaken.
Download or read book Providing Child Care to Military Families written by Joy S. Moini and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2006 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Office of the Secretary of Defense asked the RAND Corporation to assess the Department of Defense (DoD) child-care demand formula as a tool for translating information on military families into measures of potential child-care need and to suggest ways that the tool might be improved. The authors assess the validity of the DoD formula in meeting child-care needs, analyze the factors that influence key child-care outcomes, and address the broader issue of how DoD can refine its goals for military child care.
Download or read book Examining Child Care Need Among Military Families written by Susan M. Gates and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2006 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department of Defense (DoD) supports the largest employer-sponsored system of high-quality child care in the country. Through accredited child development centers (CDCs), family child care (FCC) homes, youth programs, and other before- and after-school programs, the DoD provides care to over 174,000 military children aged 0 through 12 years. To evaluate the system's ability to meet the child care needs of military families, DoD needs information on the magnitude of potential need. For a number of years, the DoD has been using a formula that translates the basic demographic characteristics of the military population into an estimate of the potential need for child care (see the companion monograph Providing Child Care to Military Families: The Role of the Demand Formula in Defining Need and Informing Policy, MG-387-OSD, by Joy S. Moini, Gail L. Zellman, and Susan M. Gates). The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) asked the RAND Corporation to collect data on child care need and child care use, assess the validity of the DoD formula, and recommend improvements to the formula. Data for the assessment came from a 2004 survey of military families about child care issues. This technical report describes and analyzes the data from that survey. It documents survey methods, defines three outcomes of potential interest to DoD (reported child-care usage, unmet child-care need, and unmet child-care preference), presents detailed results of an analysis of these outcomes among military families, and analyzes the relationships between these outcomes and military readiness and retention. For example, the data identified an important relationship between unmet child-care preference and propensity to leave the military: Families that express unmet child-care preference-that is, they are using one form of child care but would prefer another-are also more likely to report that child care issues might drive them to leave the military. This report will be of interest to officials responsible for DoD child-care policy and other quality of life issues. It should also be of interest to child care managers in other federal organizations, child care researchers, and child care policymakers at the national, state, and local levels who grapple with the issue of estimating the need for child care.
Download or read book Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-10-25 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. military has been continuously engaged in foreign conflicts for over two decades. The strains that these deployments, the associated increases in operational tempo, and the general challenges of military life affect not only service members but also the people who depend on them and who support them as they support the nation â€" their families. Family members provide support to service members while they serve or when they have difficulties; family problems can interfere with the ability of service members to deploy or remain in theater; and family members are central influences on whether members continue to serve. In addition, rising family diversity and complexity will likely increase the difficulty of creating military policies, programs and practices that adequately support families in the performance of military duties. Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society examines the challenges and opportunities facing military families and what is known about effective strategies for supporting and protecting military children and families, as well as lessons to be learned from these experiences. This report offers recommendations regarding what is needed to strengthen the support system for military families.
Download or read book Military Child Care written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services. Military Personnel and Compensation Subcommittee and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Child Care written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Military Child Care written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Examining the Effects of Accreditation on Military Child Development Center Operations and Outcomes written by Gail Zellman and published by RAND Corporation. This book was released on 1994 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study explores the implementation of one provision of the Military Child Care Act of 1989. The MCCA aims to improve the availability and quality of child care services in the military. It also seeks to standardize the delivery and quality of care across installations and military services. Most changes focus on staffing, training, compensation, and funding, but one provision requires that at least 50 military child development centers (CDCs) be accredited in accordance with the standards of a national accrediting body for early childhood programs. This report analyzes the accreditation process, professionalism, and interactions; explores the perceived effect of accreditation on child outcomes; and assesses the incremental value of accreditation over the benefits associated with DoD certification of CDCs.
Download or read book Child care programs written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services. Military Personnel and Compensation Subcommittee and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Examining the Cost of Military Child Care written by Gail Zellman and published by Minnesota Historical Society. This book was released on 2002 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department of Defense (DoD) has developed an impressive system for delivering quality child care to the children of DoD empl.
Download or read book Examining the Cost of Military Child Care written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department of Defense (DoD) has developed an impressive system for delivering quality child care to the children of DoD employees. This system currently provides care to nearly 200,000 children on a daily basis, ranging in age from six weeks to 12 years. To care for these children, the DoD operates Child Development Centers (CDCs) around the world, supports a network of Family Child Care (FCC) homes, and offers before and after-school, holiday, and summer programs for school-age children. The military child-care system is the largest system of employer- sponsored child care in the country, and it has received wide recognition for the high-quality and affordable care it provides. At the same time, the DoD has been under pressure to control expenditures and has explored how the cost of support activities such as child care might be reduced. In the mid-1990s, part of this examination included discussions on the feasibility and potential value of outsourcing military child care. Although the impetus to outsource has waned as policymakers realized that there were limited opportunities for cost savings through outsourcing of child care, given the strict staffing requirements in the delivery of high-quality care, information about the cost of child care remains an important management and policy tool.
Download or read book Improving Child Care Services written by United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 968 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Issues Affecting Families of Soldiers Sailors Airmen and Marines written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services. Subcommittee on Personnel and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Overview of Morale Welfare and Recreation MWR Programs written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services. Subcommittee on Military Personnel and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Strengthening Our Military Families Meeting America s Commitment written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
