ABSTRACT
Every woman who has had a child during a time when she was committed to working outside the home knows that child care can be critical to parental well-being. Even those lucky enough to have supportive spouses and well-paid jobs may experience the doubts, distress, and anxiety caused by an inability to find child care, the breakdown of existing child-care arrangements, or suspicions that one's child care may be harming the child's health, happiness, and development. If this is how child-care problems can affect the lives of the relatively privileged, imagine how they affect the lives of individuals whose choices are far more constrained because of low income or lack of a helpful partner.
