TITLE What Are the School-Age Child Care Needs of Families in Rural Communities?

During 1994 and 1995, the Commissions on Children and Families in six rural Oregon counties joined with local elementary schools and the Oregon State University Extension Service to conduct surveys to determine the school-age child care needs of local families. Data were collected and analyzed, and individual reports were prepared by county. The present study used the aggregated data to gain a broader sense of how families in rural counties define their school-age child-care needs. Results identified the after-school arrangements used most often, problems encountered with child care; self-care topics that parents felt children needed more information on, and when parents felt care was needed. In addition, the survey data identified four major school-age child care issues: (1) the need for care; (2) the impact child care problems have on parents' job performance; (3) the need for affordable care, particularly for single-parent families and families with more than one child; and (4) qualit