“The purpose of this document is to summarize what the available research tells us about informal child care, and to identify significant gaps in knowledge. Published articles and reviews, research reports, and other literature were examined to provide answers to the following questions: – What proportion of children are in informal child care and what have been the trends in usage over time? – What are the characteristics of families that use informal child care? – Why do families use informal child care? – What are the costs of informal child care? – Who provides informal child care and what are their experiences? – What are the experiences of children and parents who use informal child care?”- Publisher’s description
