Childcare Consumers Assessing Information Needs of Iowa's Parents, January 1984

This report, by Professors Dorothy Pinsky and Robert Fuqua of Iowa State University, is one of several LEAG reports being published for the 1984 Iowa General Assembly covering research that was completed in the fall of 1983. All of these project reports are available through The University of Iowa, which administers the LEAG program. The research performed by Professors Pinsky and Fuqua involved an investigation of child care arrangements made by parents in Iowa. By means of data produced from a questionnaire sent to 540 Iowa parents who use child care, an analysis was made of such concerns as how parents choose child care options in Iowa; whether parents encounter problems with child care; parents' satisfaction with the child care arrangements available to them; and how consumers' child care choices might be improved. Iowa parents are generally satisfied with their child care arrangements, but a number of problems are evident (such as the difficulty of obtaining care for sick children, infants, and school-age children and the cost of care). The researchers close with suggestions for state action to improve the decision process in arranging child care, and a series of options is listed for possible legislative or administrative support of improved child care in Iowa