Multiple child care arrangements in Australia
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Abstract
The majority of Australian children will use some form of non parental child care before entering school. However, little attention has been paid to the combinations of care types that children use across early childhood and the reasons why parents make these child care decisions. In this article, the authors focus on one aspect of children's child care experiences that has only recently received attention in empirical research in Australia, namely the phenomenon of multiple child care, or 'multicare'. Multiple child care arrangements or multicare refers to the situation where children are using two or more different child care arrangements in a given week, for example long day care and care by a grandparent.
The majority of Australian children will use some form of non parental child care before entering school. However, little attention has been paid to the combinations of care types that children use across early childhood and the reasons why parents make these child care decisions. In this article, the authors focus on one aspect of children's child care experiences that has only recently received attention in empirical research in Australia, namely the phenomenon of multiple child care, or 'multicare'. Multiple child care arrangements or multicare refers to the situation where children are using two or more different child care arrangements in a given week, for example long day care and care by a grandparent.