[UM Hospital Report] Sick Kids, Struggling Parents

From the report

• Nearly two-thirds of parents of young children in child care say their children could not attend because of illness in the past year.
• One-third of parents of young children are concerned about losing jobs or losing pay when taking off work to care for their sick children.
• 8% of parents with kids in child care say taking their sick child to the emergency room is more convenient than seeing a primary care doctor.

….

Work Impact

Missing work because a sick child was sent home or not allowed into child care is common; 42% of parents of young children in child care have missed work in the last year. Nearly a quarter of parents (26%) missed work three or more times over a one-year period because of their child.

When a child is sick, parents must either take time off from work, make other child care arrangements, or try to get immediate medical care in order to comply with exclusion policies for the child care setting. One-half of parents with children in child care report that finding alternative or back-up child care for their sick children is difficult (Figure 1).

In addition, about one-third of parents say taking time off of work with a sick child is difficult because they may lose pay or lose their job, and a similar proportion report that they do not receive enough paid time off from work to care for their sick children (Figure 1).

When asked about where to take a sick child for care, 8% of parents with children in child care say taking their sick child to the emergency room is more convenient than seeing a primary care doctor…..

 

Additional UM Reports (over 50) may be found here 
Titles include

• Parents of high school athletes speak out on performance-enhancing drugs
• Knowledge key to support for embryonic stem cell research
• Who do voters prefer for children’s health issues?
• Bullying worries parents of overweight and obese children
• Retail clinics: an emerging source of health care for children
• Obesity tops list of biggest health problems for kids in 2008
• Summer safety for ‘tweens’ home alone
• Children in research: many parents willing if risk of harm is small
• Ask the doctor: is my child’s medicine FDA-approved?
• Child health threats: are consumer alerts enough?

Related articles

• New poll shows importance of paid sick leave to parents of young children (washingtonpolicywatch.org)
• One-third of parents concerned about losing jobs, pay when they stay home with sick kids who can’t attend child care (prnewswire.com)
• Parents fear sick kids will cost them their jobs (sott.net)
• Times are tough for low-wage workers (miamiherald.com)
• Improving child care in the U.S.: A Q&A (nj.com)