Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High-Quality Early Care and Education: Administrative Data Findings (Conference poster)

Abstract

This conference poster presents findings from an analysis of Arkansas’s administrative data. We compare the quality, stability, and accessibility of subsidized early care and education (ECE) for young children in foster care using Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) vouchers to ECE for all other Arkansas children using CCDF vouchers. We also examine the landscape of licensed ECE programs eligible to serve children in foster care according to state criteria. Findings indicate that among children receiving care through CCDF vouchers, children in foster care were less likely than children not in foster care to experience the highest quality of care. Also, once enrolled in CCDF-funded child care, children in foster care experienced more instability in their care arrangements as compared with other children not in foster care.