Examining child care need among military families

The military child-care system has received nationwide recognition for providing highquality child care to a large number of military families (Campbell et al., 2000). The military provides care for as long as 12 hours per day in child development centers (CDCs), and even longer if necessary in family child care (FCC) homes.1 However, in spite of the vast size of the system, access to child care is far from universal within the Department of Defense (DoD). Many families remain on waiting lists for military child care or seek out alternatives off base. DoD is committed to meeting the child care need among military families. To monitor progress toward that goal, DoD requires a meaningful measure of that need. The purpose of this report is to improve understanding of the child care choices that military families make and the factors that might influence those choices, and to assess the extent to which DoD is meeting the child care needs of military families. This report will assist DoD in assessing the effectiveness of the current DoD child-care-demand formula, which translates the basic demographic characteristics of the military population into child care need as a tool to get information on the magnitude of the potential need.