Using kin for child care: Embedment in the socioeconomic networks of extended families

This exploratory analysis offers a new explanation of why African American and Mexican American mothers who are employed are more likely than Angle American mothers to use childcare arrangements with relatives. in-depth interviews,with 31 racially diverse employed mothers revealed race and ethnic differences in views of the appropriateness of using kin-based care. The analysis shows how decisions to use kin-based child care are shaped not by only the individual needs of the family that requires child care, but also by how families with young children are embedded in the socioeconomic networks of the extended family and rake the economic needs of the members of their extended families into account when making childcare arrangements.