Informal care preferred by many parents
Helen Gilbert
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Policymakers are being urged to reconsider the current expansion of formal childcare provision and focus on the benefits of informal care provided by friends and family. The recommendation is made in a report funded by Sure Start Kilburn Priory in London. Valuing Informal Care: What Mothers of Young Children Want is based on interviews with 200 parents in the local area and published by the Hera Trust, an organisation that aims to advance education in social sciences and the role of women in society.
The recommendation is made in a report funded by Sure Start Kilburn Priory in London. Valuing Informal Care: What Mothers of Young Children Want is based on interviews with 200 parents in the local area and published by the Hera Trust, an organisation that aims to advance education in social sciences and the role of women in society.
The report examined the use of informal childcare within family and community. It found that mothers preferred to look after their very young children, with back-up from friends and family.
'Informal sources of care emerged as being popular in the study because they were seen by mothers as trustworthy complements to their maternal care,' the report said. 'With friends and relatives a mother knows, and often has direct say over, how childcare is performed.'
The view that informal care is a second-best stop-gap was described as 'dated' and 'highly questionable', and the notion that formal care is the best way of supporting mothers to return to work was also challenged.
'A better way of maximising women's employment might be indirect - through promoting informal supports within local "communities of mothers" rather than simply by investing in formal provisions,' the report said.
A spokesperson for the DfES said, 'If parents want to stay at home with their children, we are offering that with enhanced maternity and paternity arrangements. If they want to go out to work we are offering enhanced tax credits together with high quality childcare provision.'
For copies of the report contact the Hera Trust on 020 8709 9266.