The effects of child care subsidies for moderate-income families in Cook County, Illinois

Federal funding for child care subsidies has increased substantially since 1996. Although many more low-income families receive help paying for child care, there is little rigorous evidence to guide states’ decisions on structuring subsidy programs. This is the final report of a random assignment study in Cook County, Illinois, that seeks to answer two policy questions: whether providing subsidies to families whose incomes are just over the state’s eligibility limit affects their child care and employment outcomes, and whether extending the length of time before families must reapply for subsidies affects the receipt of subsidies and related outcomes.

This study included 1,884 families who applied for child care subsidies in Cook County, Illinois, between March 2005 and May 2006, and whose incomes exceeded the state’s eligibility limits. Families were randomly assigned to a program group, which was approved to receive subsidies even though family income was above the usual eligibility limit, or to a control group, which remained ineligible for subsidies as long as family income was above the state guidelines. In addition, a random half of the program group was asked to confirm its eligibility for subsidies every six months (the state standard) while the other half was asked to reconfirm eligibility annually. Because families were assigned at random to the program and the control groups, any systematic differences that emerged after random assignment can reliably be attributed to the policy changes being studied. (author abstract)