The Influence of Childcare Arrangements on Child Well Being from Infancy to Middle Childhood

In 2012, the Family Support Agency (now Túsla, the Child and Family Agency) in collaboration with the Irish Research Council commissioned this study to investigate the wellbeing of children from families in which the parents are in employment and the children are minded by others. The study set out to describe the uptake of non-parental care from infancy to middle childhood, and to determine how such uptake influences the wellbeing of children. This is the first national study of the well-being of children from infancy to midd le childhood in the Irish context. The key research objectives were: 1. To explore the relationship between childcare arrangements in early childhood and out-of- school care in middle childhood and children’s physical, cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes; and, 2. To identify the key risk factors associated with children’s well-being from infancy to middle childhood