Download or read book Options for Improving the Military Child Care System written by Gail Zellman and published by RAND Corporation. 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 Program Development in Military Child Care Settings written by and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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 Need for High Quality Child Care Affects Military Readiness and Retention written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research brief presents focus group and survey results that point to several options for improving the Department of Defense's approach to addressing the child-care needs of military families.
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:
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 Military Child Care written by U.s. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-04 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "About a million military servicemembers serve the United States while raising a family, and many need reliable, affordable child care. Paying for high-quality child care can be challenging for these families, so the Department of Defense (DOD) offsets costs by subsidizing on-installation child care centers and offering subsidies for approved off-installation care providers. Deployments related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan increased the demand for child care. The extent of military families' out-of-pocket child care costs for those using subsidized care are not known, and families may face barriers to obtaining DOD-subsidized care. GAO was mandated to examine: (1) the out-of-pocket child care costs paid by military families who use DOD-subsidized care; and (2) the barriers, if any, to obtaining DOD-subsidized care, and what has DOD done in response.To address these objectives, GAO reviewed DOD policies and guidance; interviewed officials from DOD, its contractor that administers DOD's off-installation child care subsidies, and organizations that support military families; reviewed DOD fee data for school year 2009-2010 (school year 2010) and school year 2010-2011 (school year 2011); and analyzed child care costs for a random probability sample of 338 families using off-installation care in school year 2010. GAO conducted nongeneralizable discussion groups with military parents at two large military installations."
Download or read book What Are the Costs of Operating the Military s Child Care System written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 5 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department of Defense (DoD) provides child care through an impressive Child Development Program (CDP). The CDP is large, currently serving about 176,000 children 6 weeks to 12 years old in 900 child development centers (CDCs) and in 9,200 family child care (FCC) homes nationwide. Despite its large size, the CDP is also a high-quality system. The Military Child Care Act of 1989 was designed to promote quality in CDCs, and it has helped to do so through no-notice inspections, salaries tied to training milestones, and the provision of training and curriculum specialists. Today, virtually all CDCs are accredited. Moreover, the DoD has applied some of the same regulations designed to improve quality to FCC homes. CDC care is also affordable the DoD bases parent fees on total family income, not on child age, the common practice in the civilian sector. Finally, care is widely available. How much does this impressive system cost and how do costs vary by child care setting and by child age? In a recent RAND report, Gail Zellman and Susan Gates addressed these questions, using surveys of CDP directors at 60 installations and at five of seven centers operated for the DoD by contractors, interviewing administrative and human resources staff at civilian employer-sponsored child care centers, and developing cost estimates. Their results focused on the three research questions presented here.
Download or read book From Neurons to Neighborhoods written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-11-13 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.
Download or read book FEHBP CHAMPUS written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. Subcommittee on Civil Service and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Budget Options for National Defense written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Raising Children in the Military written by Cheryl Lawhorne-Scott and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-05-08 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Military life places unique demands on military families with children including frequent moves, disruptions in schooling, family separation, health care issues, loss of friends, financial hardships, underemployment of military spouses, and the ever present threat of risk of injury or death of loved ones deployed. But learning how to navigate these challenges can help prepare families for those events as they arise. Here, the authors have assembled information about common problem areas and have included detailed information about solutions and resources available. The information in this guide has been carefully gathered from hundreds of sources and resources and includes the most up to date information about child services and benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, allowing serving members of the military with children to quickly access information that they need regarding all aspects of child care, from raising a family to education, and from coping with constant moves to grief counseling. It also covers other critical issues such as wellness, family solidarity, benefits, insurance and problems such as addiction and domestic violence. Readers will gain a better understanding of what child services and benefits are available and how to obtain them as well as secrets for successful relationships and family bonding.
Download or read book Guidelines for Early Learning in Child Care Home Settings written by John McLean and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
