EMBARGO UNTIL: 12:01 A.M., EST, OCTOBER 31, 2000 (TUESDAY)
Public Information Office CB00-181
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
e:mail: pio@census.gov
Kristin Smith
301-457-2416
Census Bureau Says 7 Million Grade-School
Children Home Alone
About 7 million children 5 to 14 years old were regularly left
unsupervised in 1995 while their parents were at work or away for other
reasons, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's
Census Bureau.
"Children caring for themselves spent an average of six hours per week
doing so," said Census Bureau analyst Kristin Smith, author of Who's Minding
the Kids? Child Care Arrangements: Fall 1995. "Fifty percent of them
spent less than five hours per week without adult supervision, and 13
percent spent more than 10 hours a week unsupervised."
Self-care was much more prevalent among middle school-age children than
among those in elementary schools. Nine percent of children (2.4 million)
ages 5 to 11 and 41 percent of children (4.4 million) ages 12 to 14
regularly cared for themselves. The proportion of children in self-care
ranged from 2 percent among 5-year-olds to 48 percent among 14-year-olds.
Other highlights of the report:
All children
- Employed women with children under 15 years of age who made cash
payments for child care found that these payments have edged
upward. In 1995, their families paid an average $85 per week for
child care. That was up from $59 (constant 1995 dollars) in 1985.
- Poor families who paid for child care in 1995 spent 35 percent
of their budget on it, five times the proportion spent by nonpoor
families (those with income above the poverty line).
Preschoolers
- Parental care of preschoolers became less common between 1991
and 1995. The proportion cared for primarily by their fathers while
their mothers worked declined from a high of 20 percent in 1991 to 17
percent in 1995; similarly, the percentage cared for primarily by
mothers while they, the mothers, worked fell from 9 percent to 5 percent
over the same period.
- When all child-care arrangements are included -- primary and
supplemental -- 50 percent of preschoolers were regularly cared for
by a relative, with grandparents, at 30 percent, the single most
frequently mentioned care provider among relatives. Meanwhile, 49
percent were cared for by a nonrelative on a regular basis, with the
highest in this category, 30 percent, in an organized facility. The
difference between the percent cared for by a relative and a
nonrelative was not statistically significant.
- Multiple child-care arrangements are common. In 1995, 44 percent of
preschoolers regularly spent time in more than one type of arrangement
per week.
Grade-schoolers
- Grade school-age children were more likely to care for themselves if
they lived with a single father (31 percent) than a single mother
(17 percent). Additionally, the chances of self-care increased with
family income -- from 11 percent of children in poverty to 22 percent
of those with family incomes at least double the poverty line.
- About 4 in 10 of all grade school-age children participated in
enrichment activities, including sports, lessons, clubs and before-
or after-school programs.
- On average, children ages 5 to 14 with parents who were employed or in
school were cared for in a mix of 3.4 arrangements per week. Children
whose parents were neither employed nor in school were cared for in
an average of 1.6 arrangements.
The report shows the number and characteristics of children in different
child-care arrangements, including those in more than one type of
arrangement. It also shows the characteristics of their families,
contrasting the arrangements for preschool- and grade school-age children.
For the first time in a Census Bureau child-care report, data are
presented on arrangements used while parents are not at work or in school.
The data are from the fall 1995 Survey of Income and Program
Participation. As in all surveys, the data are subject to sampling
variability and other sources of error.
available free from Adobe.
