I Need Someone to Care

Using phenomenological research methods, 28 interviews were conducted with 10 mothers of at least one child in his/her next to last year of childcare. This study found that although all of the mothers focused on similar aspects of care when evaluating quality, they placed different levels of importance on each aspect according to identified needs for childcare and purposes for enrollment. The aspects that all mothers attended to were child safety, child learning, relationships with teachers, the cost of childcare, the hours of operation, the physical location of the childcare, and parent and child feelings associated with attendance in childcare. The discussion section describes the study's limitations and implications for practice and future research. Some implications for practice include the importance of consistent communication between parents and childcare providers so that parents know how their needs are being met and to help them develop relationships with their children's caregivers, leading to positive feelings regarding childcare enrollment.

Autorentext

Dr. Knopf has continued to study Quality Early Childhood Programming through his work on projects funded by the SC DSS and U.S. Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care. Dr. Knopf has several articles reporting outcomes of his research and many presentations at national and international conferences.