Types of Care & What They Cost

Family day care: Providers use their homes to care for children. There are two kinds of licensed family day care: large and small. Large family homes are licensed for a maximum of 12 children and require two adults to be present. Small family homes are licensed for six children and require one adult to be present.

Most of the county’s 7,100 family day-care homes are licensed for six children.

Child-care centers: Non-residential facilities that typically handle anywhere from 13 to 250 children. The ratio of care-givers to children, square footage and staff qualifications are regulated by the state. Centers range from private, for-profits to parent-run cooperatives to church-based nonprofits.

In-home care: Baby-sitters and nannies who work in the child’s home.

The cost: Parents in Los Angeles County spend about $330,000 million a year on child-care fees, according to 1987 research by Crystal Stairs Inc., a state-funded resource and referral agency based in Los Angeles.

In 1990, the mean rate for full-time infant care was $114 a week or $4.05 an hour at child-care centers in Los Angeles County. The mean cost for full-time preschool care (ages 2-5) was $80 or $2.44 an hour. The mean cost for after-school care was $2.48 an hour.

At family day-care homes, the mean cost for full-time infant care was $73 a week or $2.71 an hour. The mean cost for full-time preschool care was $71 a week or $2.77 an hour. The mean cost of after-school care was $2.49 an hour. The median income for a family of four in California is $35,000. Such a family with an infant and preschooler would spend almost a third of its income on 50 weeks of full-time care.

* According to Crystal Stairs’ research, there are 1,462,000 children under the age of 12 in Los Angeles County.

* 667,000 of them have mothers who stay home.

* 795,000 have working mothers and need some type of care.

* Of those with working mothers, 506,000 are cared for informally--by a neighbor or a grandparent, for example.

* Of the 289,000 remaining children, 134,000 are in licensed day care of some type, while 155,000 have neither licensed nor steady informal care.