Summary of Early Outreach Survey Report: CUPW Member–Parents and Their Child Care Arrangements

CUPW Parent Survey

In 2016, we developed and mailed out a survey to all CUPW member–parents currently on maternal/parental leave. The survey was designed to gather information about how and when CUPW parents arrange child care, and what factors influenced their choices.

The survey was mostly multiple-choice questions with some open-ended questions offering space for written responses. Of the 370 parents invited to participate, 91 usable surveys were received, a response rate of 25%.  CRRU researchers uploaded and tabulated survey responses using Survey Monkey.

Overview of Survey Findings

The survey yielded valuable information that can both support CUPW member family needs and provide the basis for more in-depth research. Survey findings covering a number of broad topics are highlighted in this section.

Demographics

Respondents from Ontario and Quebec were represented most highly, with 25 from Ontario and 27 from Quebec. Other respondents resided in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

Respondents ranged in age from 25 to 49. Of the total number of survey respondents: 

• 93% were female.
• 85 respondents (95%) had a spouse or partner living with them. Of this number, approximately half had at least one other child aged 0–5 in their household.
• Five individuals identified as lone parents.
• 33 respondents (36%) were first-time parents; the infants with whom they were currently on leave were born between May 2015 and June 2016.

Family leave

When asked about which type of family leave they were currently on and their eligibility for different types of leave, respondents answered as follows: 

• 73% said were on maternity leave, while 22% were on parental leave.
• The majority said they were eligible for both maternity and parental leave. A little over half said that at least one parent would be taking 52 weeks of combined leave with the new child. The remainder said that the number of weeks of combined family leave being taken ranged from 30 weeks to three years.
•  Of the 90 respondents who answered whether or not they would be returning to work, almost all (95.5%) said that they would be.

A number of respondents commented that they would like to take longer maternity/parental leave. We do not know whether this was a personal preference or if it was specifically linked to high child care costs or lack of child care options (as some parents commented it was).

Child care subsidy system

The majority of respondents were not well informed on child care subsidies: 

• 57% were not aware that all provinces except Quebec have a fee subsidy system that may help offset the cost of child care for eligible parents. 
• 53% were unsure about whether they would qualify for a fee subsidy.
• When asked if they knew how to find out whether they were eligible for a subsidy or not, 74% respondents indicated that they did not know how to find this out.

Child care arrangements 

• 54 respondents (59%) said they had already secured a child care arrangement for their new baby; 18 of these were first-time parents while 36 had at least one other child. However, we do not know how many had put their names on wait lists early in the pregnancy so as to be sure to secure a regulated space. 
• The parents who had already made child care arrangements were disproportionately from Quebec (85.2%, compared to 41.7% of Ontario parents and 53.8% of parents from other provinces).
• Quebec parents were also much more likely to have arranged care at a child care centre (55%, compared to 20% in Ontario and 38% in other provinces). This is not surprising, given that child care fees are much more affordable in Quebec because child care is heavily publicly funded in that province, and the child care coverage level is considerably higher in Quebec than in the rest of the country.

Sources of child care information

When asked to specify the source of information they found to be most helpful, respondents first identified Internet sources: Facebook community groups, government websites and "Mom" groups on social media. Other sources identified as most helpful were family members, friends, neighbours and community resource centres.

This group of parents generally does not consult resources such as brochures and videos about finding or choosing child care.

Aspects of child care most important to parents

Health and safety” was the overall number one most important factor to respondents when arranging care for their baby (62%). The most frequently chosen second choice was "caregiver I can trust" and the most frequently chosen third choice was "cost."

Responses to open-ended questions

Respondents were given an opportunity to write in additional information in a number of questions as well as in response to a question asking, "Is there anything else that you would like to tell us?" The majority of these responses were about high costs and inadequacy of subsidies; difficulty finding child care when working non-standard hours; and maternity/parental leave and accommodation.

Next Steps/Recommendations

Survey a broader population

The survey given to CUPW parents has been reformatted as an online survey and was made more widely available in January 2017. Expecting and new parents are already filling it out. Surveying a broader population will allow us to compare CUPW parents to parents in the general Canadian population so we can better support member–parents. We expect to collect online responses until about April 2017, when the new data will be ready for analysis and comparison with the CUPW survey data.

More focused support from the union

The findings of this research suggest that CUPW member families could benefit from more focused support from their union on arranging child care, maternity/parental leave issues and issues related to accommodation.

Building on existing union structures and previous work, this support could be offered in the following ways: 

• Consolidating available information and resources (including the Finding Quality Child Care website) in one place (on the union website);
• More outreach/communication to show members where this information is available;
• Creating some additional resources, such as more focused information about maternity/parental leave entitlements and how to address issues of accommodation in light of recent human rights rulings;
• Education/training/roles for union reps on the availability of resources to help members address family-related matters such as connections to child care resources early in a pregnancy; and
• Communication within the union about these issues and how to raise awareness about supports among members.

Further research on maternity and parental leave

The comments and responses to our survey suggest that there is much that is unknown about parents' views on maternity/parental leave. There is very little Canadian research or analysis of this issue at a time when the federal government is contemplating making changes to the EI rules pertaining to maternity/parental leave outside Quebec. It is expected that the broader online survey will yield further information that can help us to better understand families' maternity/parental leave situations and preferences. A natural next step would be further research targeted at maternity/parental leave.