Half of U.S. families report difficulty in finding childcare (Schochet, 2019) and over 365,000 adults reported losing a job because they needed to take time to care for their children (Mader, 2022). The recent COVID-19 pandemic has only further exacerbated the issue as over 15,000 childcare providers have closed since 2020 (Lurye, 2022), further limiting the availability of childcare services. This issue spans multiple industries, especially industries with non-traditional work shifts (Bateman, 2020). Nurses, EMTs, police officers, correction officers, and other professionals with non-traditional work shifts encounter similar issues with regards to accessing childcare. Childcare services usually provide coverage for parents who work traditional 9 – 5 shifts. Professionals who work beyond this timeframe may lack the availability of coverage. Due to the lack of a consistent and reliable schedule, parents who work in these professions often have difficulty finding childcare that meets the time demands of non-traditional work hours.
This dynamic is especially problematic for single moms as access to childcare services becomes increasingly difficult due to the lack of a significant other to rely on for childcare coverage. This disproportionately impacts minority groups as 71% of Black mothers and 41% of Hispanic mothers report being the sole providers in their homes (Schochet, 2019). The cost and location of childcare are other reasons why parents have difficulty finding childcare (Koschmann et al., 2021), but childcare is necessary for parents. Childcare costs can be upwards of almost 18% of a family’s income (Childcare Aware of America, 2022) which is a significant portion of a family’s budget. More research needs to be done related to understanding and identifying specific challenges in more detail related to accessing childcare for correction officers (COs).
Uniform Parents and Childcare at NYC’s Department of Correction
For the past two years, the Department of Correction (DOC) has made significant improvements to managing and assigning uniform staff (Martin et al., 2023). Yet, mitigating staffing issues remains a challenge for the DOC. The demands of overtime especially put pressure on uniform parents who may not necessarily have access to childcare resources during certain times of the day and night after the scheduled shift time or may need more flexibility to make last minute changes related to childcare services. If childcare services are unavailable to uniform parents who are asked to provide last minute shift coverage, the uniform parents are put in an uncomfortable position of having to choose between the safety and security of their child or the preservation of their livelihood. Some uniform parents may choose to leave and not provide shift coverage without the approval of their supervisor. This not only increases issues with regards to appropriate staffing coverage in DOC facilities, but it also leads to morale issues for those uniform staff who must stay longer to cover for those who leave their shift unexpectedly. Those staff covering shifts and remaining at post for longer than expected are not mentally and physically prepared with limited access to food and resource options.
Additionally, once an officer reports to post in the facility, the officer does not have contact with the outside world. If an officer is tasked with covering a shift unexpectedly after reporting for the originally scheduled shift, the officer has no way to communicate with anyone outside of the facility with regards to the delay of being relieved from work. These issues can then impact the morale and, potentially, the quality of work for uniform staff.
Research Study Overview
This study’s main goal is to better understand the challenges that uniform staff encounter when trying to access childcare by collecting information and experiences directly from uniform parents. This study included a survey of uniform staff as well as focus group discussions. To raise awareness of the request to complete the survey and to recruit volunteers to participate in the focus group discussions, basic marketing tools such as emails and flyers were created and distributed to generate interest in the survey and encourage participation amongst COs. Additionally, the Research and Evaluation (RE) Team staff traveled to 5 different facilities and participated in 10 different roll calls to spread awareness about the research study. The variations in roll call times as well as the visiting of different facilities helped to inform a variety of uniform staff of various ranks to ensure that diverse perspectives were represented regarding the completion of the survey as well as participation in the focus group discussions.
Survey Results
A 21-question survey was created and distributed throughout the department. This survey sought to gather basic demographic information from uniform staff. Of the current 6,494 uniform staff that DOC employs, there were 352 responses to the survey which is a response rate of 5%. Of those 352 responses, 326 staff were parents to include 224 mothers, 101 fathers, and one grandparent with custody of their grandchild; 57% (186) of respondents indicated that they had a spouse, partner, or somebody else who was providing some type of childcare support, and around 43% (140) of respondents indicated that they were single and the sole caregiver of their child(ren).
Of the 326 uniform parents who completed the survey, over 300 had primary responsibility for their child(ren), biological and non-biological, and 298 respondents indicated that they were responsible for newborns to children ages 12 years old. This is important to note as children in this age range require constant or consistent adult supervision and care. All respondents had variously different childcare arrangements. A total of 174 respondents utilized only one type of childcare service. All other respondents used a variety of combinations of different childcare resources to ensure that their children received the appropriate level of supervision to include utilizing a spouse, significant other, or family member, a family friend and/or neighbor, in-home childcare, commercial or private group care to include a daycare center, church-sponsored programs, and others.
For levels of satisfaction related to current childcare arrangements, 204 respondents were not satisfied or very dissatisfied with their current childcare arrangements. Out of those 204 responses, 180 respondents were trying to change their childcare arrangements (see Figure 1). ipsu
Uniform parents were also asked about how many days they had missed work or been significantly late due to childcare issues in the last six months. As the survey was conducted in July of 2023, this would cover January to June of that same year. Over half of the respondents, around 60%, missed work 4 or more days in the last six months due to childcare issues. This indicates that many uniform parents’ presence at work can be significantly impacted by childcare issues. The inability to tap into childcare resources causes a lot of uniform parents to miss work. Furthermore, uniform parents were asked to estimate how many times in the past three months they had been asked to stay later than their scheduled shift which caused them to rearrange their childcare plans. This time span includes April to June of 2023. Out of all 326 responses, 223 respondents had indicated that they had been in a position to change their childcare arrangements 9 times or even more due to overtime requests while only 18 respondents indicated that they had not been in a position to change their childcare arrangements due to overtime requests (see Figure 2).
Uniform parents were also asked how they would describe their supervisor’s attitudes towards childcare and associated difficulties that uniform staff may have with finding and maintaining adequate childcare. Around 75% (246), a significant amount, of uniform parents indicated that DOC leadership did not recognize the needs of parents and were not tolerant of the needs of parents. This theme also came up during the focus group discussions.
Focus Group Discussions
This study included three focus group discussions with 9 uniform staff and 1 non-uniform staff, nine female and one male, of varying ranks to include captains, deputy wardens, and correction officers. Due to the recognized scheduling similarities between non-uniform and uniform staff members, it was decided that this non-uniform staff member be included in the focus group discussions. Participants in the focus groups worked for DOC from 5 to 17 years. The focus group discussions lasted about an hour to an hour and a half and consisted of a semi-structured discussion format that included 13 questions centered around three common themes: 1) overview of the family structure; 2) childcare resources and services that are currently utilized and; 3) challenges and recommendations for improving access to childcare.
There were some concerns that the participants would be hesitant to share criticisms of the department with department staff and in a departmental setting. However, the focus group participants indicated that sharing personal perspectives and experiences was important as they had encountered many challenges and frustrations with the department as uniform staff and had wanted to provide feedback to instigate change and reform for fellow and future colleagues. Many participants reported that they rely on family members, significant others, and neighbors for childcare assistance when they are working.
Working overtime caused a strain on this arrangement. Single uniform parents are particularly affected by the struggle to provide adequate childcare while working varying shifts and hours. However, when family members did help uniform parents with child supervision, most family members did not understand DOC and the culture of non-support by DOC leadership.
Four main issues were identified that caused major barriers related to accessing childcare resources for uniform parents. These relate to DOC policies, shift times, overtime, and costs of childcare. According to the participants, many of these challenges accessing childcare could be solved internally by DOC. The most common response from uniform parents is the request for flexibility and consistent days off. Other suggested solutions include providing support services entitled to officers by removing unpredictable and unfair work schedules and providing options for overtime to parents with small children as well as some assistance with childcare costs. Even beyond these suggestions, many participants highlighted the fact that DOC and its leadership needed to be more compassionate towards its uniform staff. They also said that there was an inconsistency with which schedules and scheduling preferences were adhered to.
Summary
Due to issues regarding scheduling and overtime, uniform parents must have a variety of different childcare resources available. The inability to tap into such childcare resources causes a lot of uniform parents to miss work which exacerbates the staffing crisis. Uniform parents try to maintain a sustainable approach to parenting while also remaining gainfully employed. The need for DOC to seriously consider and address the frustrations and challenges as revealed by this study is imperative to improve the morale of the uniform staff as well as address very real workplace issues that uniform parents encounter.
There are many limitations to this study related to the generalization of the results to all uniform parents. However, based on a preliminary review of overtime as well as extensive review of the Monitor’s reports, staffing issues are a recurrent theme and should be addressed regardless of any other identified issues (i.e. access to childcare issues). While these limitations are important to highlight, access to childcare is a nationwide issue; especially for those families whose parents work inconsistent or non-traditional work schedules. As a result, while these limitations highlight caution related to generalizing such results to all DOC uniform parents, these challenges and trends related to accessing childcare are consistent with the scholarly literature and should be taken with careful consideration.
Recommendations
After analyzing the survey results and content of the focus group discussions, this study presents six major recommendations to address these identified challenges:
• DOC HR policies related to uniform parents;
• Scheduling;
• Overtime;
• Cultural change;
• Childcare assistance;
• Miscellaneous recommendation related to accessing a phone line.
The first theme relates to DOC policies and the communication of such policies. This includes providing longer maternity leave benefits for uniform parents which would allow uniform parents additional time and resources to spend with their children as well as time for parents to arrange childcare for the family. There should be a dedicated HR representative who is working with facility leadership to consistently implement childcare-related policies. This information should also be shared during in-service training and other mandatory trainings. There should also be greater transparency with which this information is available.
The second major recommendation focuses on scheduling. The return of the policy, “Tour or Location Changes for Child or Family Care Reasons,” provided uniform parents with an opportunity take separate shifts if their spouse worked for DOC. This policy should be reinstated in support of uniform staff who are married, share custody of children, and work for DOC. Similarly, hardship requests need to be fully institutionalized and should have an accompanying central office that processes these requests.
Adjusting shift lengths is another recommendation. There are certain professions that have similar scheduling needs that require staff to be present 24 hours per day 7 days per week. As an example, nurses need to be present all day, every day to monitor patients who require consistent care. As a result, nurses usually have scheduled shifts longer than 8 hours such as 12- or 16-hour shifts (Ejebu et al., 2021). Beyond ensuring proper coverage of patients, these longer shifts allow for less commuting, greater work life balance, and more complete days off which can boost morale.
Schedules should be provided with more consistency and in a timely manner. It would be best to ensure that uniform staff are assigned shifts that provide them with more consistent working days and days that they have off. Due to school and extracurricular schedules of children as well as ensuring the scheduling of childcare coverage, this is an important dynamic as a parent. Standardization of assignment of shifts should also be implemented to prevent instances of favoritism and nepotism that was often cited during the focus group discussions as well as the survey comments. Similarly, DOC needs to limit the number of hours of overtime that correction officers must work or provide some relief for those COs who would not want to accrue excessive overtime hours.
Another recommendation relates to a cultural change in DOC leadership. DOC leadership should treat employees with respect at all times. It is important to create an atmosphere that boosts the morale of uniform staff throughout all facilities and units. Additional training in leadership to treat employees with respect should be mandated to include creating a welcoming work environment as well as a work environment that addresses any concerns that employees raise.
Another recommendation includes childcare assistance. DOC should form partnerships with childcare facilities that COs already use and make a list of childcare facilities that are available. This would include facilities that have lengthened hours or flexible hours for parents who have non-traditional work schedules. These childcare facilities should also be willing to work with uniform parents in the event that a uniform parent was asked to do unscheduled overtime and must make last minute changes to existing childcare arrangements. Finally, a list of participating childcare facilities would be provided for all uniform parents.
DOC could also help to alleviate the costs of childcare by providing certain voucher programs that help to cover some costs incurred due to childcare needs. This would help to ease the extensive cost burden that uniform parents confront related to providing for their children. DOC could open and manage a childcare facility that is dedicated to all employees. This childcare facility would be open 24 hours, 7 days a week, and would be appropriately staffed with individuals who are familiar with DOC’s mission and goals. At a local level, the department could work with other relevant city agencies as well as interested stakeholders such as city council members and union leaders to drum up support and advocacy efforts related to legislative approaches to address the issue of lack of access to childcare facilities for uniform parents.
A final recommendation includes access to a phone line specifically for family emergencies. If the officer requires changes to childcare arrangements due to last minute overtime requests, the officer does not have access to a phone and is limited in connecting with external stakeholders about this. Vice versa, in the event that a childcare facility would like to communicate updates or information about any children of uniform staff, the childcare facility could call a specific number that is set up to communicate with uniform staff in the facilities.
Due to these numerous issues, a multi-pronged approach is necessary to comprehensively address the challenges that uniform staff encounter when accessing childcare services. The department should also engage in conversations with relevant stakeholders to address these challenges. Additionally, implementing such policies could also help to alleviate issues that non-uniform parents encounter as well and could help boost morale amongst all uniform staff. Successfully addressing these issues could also possibly help recruitment and retention efforts as well.
DOC is in a unique position to address these issues due to the continued dedication of leadership to address major institutional problems. Should these recommendations be adopted and implemented, they should be institutionalized so that changes do not occur with a change in the administration.
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Sara T. Thompson is the Director of Research and Evaluation at NYC DOC which monitors and evaluates programs, trainings, and other activities and provides guidance and recommendations towards the adoption of evidence-based research and best practices. She has also worked on criminal justice issues such as police peacekeeping at the U.S. State Department and African elephant poaching at the World Bank. She is pursuing her doctorate at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers-Newark University. For more information, she can be contacted at Sara.Thompson@doc.nyc.gov
Sandra Oranvil, MPH, Purdue University, is a Program Evaluator at the NYC Department of Correction. She has fifteen years of experience working in public health and has broad interest in research topics within Rikers and outside of criminal justice. Her recent evaluation includes The Crafting Family Connection program participation to better institutional behavior, measured in reported incidents, infractions, and the use of force. Her research findings are published in a journal. For more information, she can be contacted at Sandra.Oranvil@doc.nyc.gov
References
Bateman, N. (2020). Working parents are key to COVID-19 recovery. Brookings Institute, Washington, DC.
Childcare Aware of America. (2022). Price of Care: 2022 Child Care Affordability Analysis.
Ejebu, O. Z., Dall’Ora, C., & Griffiths, P. (2021). Nurses’ experiences and preferences around shift patterns: a scoping review. PLoS One, 16(8), e0256300.
Koschmann, K. S., Peden-McAlpine, C. J., Chesney, M., Mason, S. M., & Hooke, M. C. (2021). Urban, low-income, African American parents’ experiences and expectations of well-child care. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 60, 24–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2021.01.022
Lurye, S. (2022). Child Care Industry Struggling Two Years into the Pandemic. U.S. News and World Report.
Mader, J. (2022). Finding child care is still impossible for many parents. https://hechingerreport.org/finding-child-care-is-still-impossible-for-many-parents/
Martin, S.J., Dedel, K., Friedberg, A.E., Gonzalez, D.O., Hurley, P., Karlovich, A.M., Sparkman, E., & Vanderveer, C.B. (2023). Status Report on DOC’s Action Plan by the Nunez Independent Monitor. New York City.
Schochet, L. (2019, March 28). The child care crisis is keeping women out of the workforce. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/childcare-crisis-keeping-women-workforce/.