Economic and Social Reports
Children with long-term conditions or disabilities: Why some are not in non-parental child care

by Search for Statistics Canada publications Allison Leanage, Allison Leanage , ORCID for Allison Leanage and Search for Statistics Canada publications by Rubab Arim, Rubab Arim , ORCID for Rubab Arim

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25318/36280001202500600002-eng

Skip to text

Text begins

Abstract

Using data from the 2023 Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements–Children with Long-Term Conditions or Disabilities, this study aimed to identify potential barriers to participating in child care among children with long-term conditions or disabilities who do not regularly attend non-parental child care. Compared with child care users, non-users were less likely to have parents with a paid job or business (38% of non-users vs. 77% of users), less likely to have parents with a bachelor’s degree or higher (32% of non-users vs. 46% of users), and less likely to live in two-parent families (78% of non-users vs. 84% of users). Parents of non-users who looked for child care were more likely than those of child care users to report difficulty finding affordable child care (54% of non-users whose parents looked for care vs. 39% of users), subsidized child care (43% vs. 32%), and care that meets their child’s needs because of disability or chronic illness (29% vs. 12%). While the most frequently reported reason for not using child care varied by whether parents were seeking child care, a shortage of places or waitlists (34%) was the most frequently reported reason for not using child care among non-users whose parents looked for child care. Overall, in 2023, availability and affordability remained as potential barriers to participating in child care among children with long-term conditions or disabilities whose parents looked for child care.

Authors

Allison Leanage and Rubab Arim are with the Health Analysis and Modelling Division, Analytical Studies and Modelling Branch, at Statistics Canada. This work was completed while the authors were in the Social Analysis and Modelling Division.

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care at Employment and Social Development Canada. The authors would like to thank reviewers from the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada and the Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care at Employment and Social Development Canada for their comments on an initial version.

Introduction

In March 2024, Bill C-35, An Act respecting early learning and child care in Canada,received royal assent (Parliament of Canada, 2024). The act declared the Government of Canada’s goal to support the establishment and maintenance of a Canada-wide early learning and child care (CWELCC) system where families have access to affordable, inclusive and high-quality early learning and child care (ELCC) programs and services regardless of where they live.

Inclusivity of ELCC programs and services is one of the guiding principles of CWELCC. It involves valuing and respecting diversity, including children and families who experience vulnerability, such as children with disabilities, who are a highly diverse group with additional support needs (Employment and Social Development Canada [ESDC], 2017). However, relatively little is known about children with disabilities and their inclusion in ELCC programs and services at the national level (see for an exception Kerr et al., 2024). This is largely because of data and measurement challenges in identifying children with disabilities and examining their participation in ELCC (Arim et al., 2025).

The 2023 Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements – Children with Long-term Conditions and Disabilities (SELCCA-CLCD) sponsored by ESDC was designed to address these challenges and inform inclusive ELCC for children aged 0 to 5 years with long-term conditions or disabilities. Given the lack of a national survey measure of disability for children, four different measures of long-term conditions or disabilities were included on the 2023 SELCCA-CLCD. Arim et al. (2025) showed that these different measures independently identified children who varied in their general health and needs for extra support at their main child care arrangement; however, the use of child care was largely similar among all children, regardless of the measure used.

The present study is complementary to those of Arim et al. (2025) and Kerr et al. (2024) and is motivated by the necessity to shed light on children with long-term conditions or disabilities who do not regularly attend non-parental child care, to identify potential barriers to participating in child care. The study sample (N=2,016) includes children aged 0 to 5 years who may have one or more long-term conditions or disabilities, as reported by their parents who responded to the 2023 SELCCA-CLCD and provided an affirmative response to at least one of the four measures of long-term conditions or disabilities. The study addresses three research questions: (1) Are there sociodemographic differences between non-parental child care users and those not using child care (hereinafter referred to as non-users)? (2) What types of difficulties finding non-parental child care are encountered by the parents of child care users and those of non-users who looked for child care? (3) What are the reasons for not using non-parental child care among parents of non-users? A unique contribution of this study is distinguishing non-users whose parents looked for child care from those whose parents did not look for child care when examining child care participation characteristics.

Distinct differences emerged in sociodemographic characteristics between child care users and non-users despite having similar general health and long-term conditions or disabilities

Compared with child care users, non-users were more likely to be aged 0 to 2 years than 3 to 5 years (64% of non-users were aged 3 to 5 years vs. 74% of users) and more likely to be enrolled in school (42% of non-users vs. 27% of users) (see Table 1). By comparison, non-users were less likely to have parents with a paid job or business (38% of non-users vs. 77% of users), less likely to have parents with a bachelor’s degree or higher (32% of non-users vs. 46% of users), and less likely to live in two-parent families (78% of non-users vs. 84% of users). In contrast, non-users were more likely than child care users to have parents in racialized groups (34% of non-users vs. 28% of users), more likely to have parents with a high school education or less (31% of non-users vs. 15% of users), and more likely to be in low-income families (33% of non-users vs. 15% of users).

Care availability in the community was the top difficulty in finding child care, and about 4 in 10 children with long-term conditions or disabilities not using child care but whose parents were looking for child care were on a waitlist in 2023

Regarding child care participation characteristics (Table 2), just under half of parents of child care users reported difficulty finding care (48%). A similar proportion (47%) reported no difficulty and 6% did not look for care. Notably, over half of parents of non-users (56%) did not look for child care, although 29% of parents of non-users reported that they had difficulty finding child care and 16% reported no difficulty. Excluding children whose parents did not look for child care (i.e., 6% of users and 56% of non-users), parents of non-users who looked for child care were more likely to report difficulty finding child care (65%) compared with those of child care users (48%).

Among parents of children with long-term conditions or disabilities who reported difficulty finding child care, the top reported type of difficulty was care availability in the community, which was similar for both users (66%) and non-users whose parents looked for child care (61%). However, parents of non-users who looked for child care were more likely than those of child care users to report difficulty finding affordable child care (54% of non-users whose parents looked for care vs. 39% of users), subsidized child care (43% vs. 32%), and care that meets their child’s needs because of disability or chronic illness (29% vs. 12%). In contrast, parents of child care users were more likely to report difficulties related to finding care that fits their work or study schedules compared with those of non-users who looked for child care (30% of users vs. 22% of non-users whose parents looked for care). Finally, non-users (24%) were more likely to be on a waitlist for child care compared with child care users (18%). This difference was much larger between non-users whose parents looked for child care (40%) and child care users (18%), indicating that among non-users whose parents looked for child care, about 4 in 10 children were on a waitlist for child care.

Overall, the differences in reported difficulties aligned with the differences in sociodemographic characteristics of child care users and non-users. For example, non-users were more likely to be in low-income families, and parents of non-users who looked for child care were more likely to report difficulty finding affordable or subsidized child care. Notably, the parents of non-users who looked for child care were also more likely than those of child care users to report difficulty finding care that meets their child’s needs because of disability or chronic illness. In contrast, child care users were more likely to have a parent who was working at a paid job or business and were more likely to have parents reporting difficulty finding care that fits with their work schedules.

While the most frequently reported reason for not using child care varied by whether parents were seeking child care, the cost of child care being too high was consistently the second most frequently reported reason in 2023

Among parents of children with long-term conditions or disabilities not using child care, about 38% were not using child care because they preferred having a parent at home with their child. However, among non-users whose parents looked for child care, this proportion was lower, at 20%. In 2023, about 3 in 10 had parents reporting the cost of child care being too high as a reason for not using child care, regardless of whether they were looking for child care. The child being in school (26%) and a shortage of places or waitlists (21%) were also among the most frequently reported reasons for not using child care among parents of all non-users. Notably, a shortage of places or waitlists (34%) was the most frequently reported reason for not using child care among non-users whose parents looked for child care.   

These results suggest that the most frequently reported reason for not using child care among parents of all non-users is largely driven by those whose parents did not look for child care and preferred having a parent at home with their child. Excluding this group (i.e., non-users whose parents did not look for child care), a shortage of places or waitlists was the most frequently reported reason for not using child care in 2023. The cost of child care being too high remained one of the most frequently reported reasons for not using child care, consistent with the fact that parents of non-users who looked for child care were more likely to report difficulty finding affordable or subsidized child care.

Conclusion

This study focused on children with long-term conditions or disabilities who do not regularly attend non-parental child care to better inform inclusion in ELCC. A unique contribution was the distinction between non-users whose parents looked for child care and those whose parents did not look for child care when examining child care participation characteristics. Several key findings emerged. Child care users and non-users differed in their sociodemographic characteristics. First, among non-users, children were more likely be aged 0 to 2 years than aged 3 to 5 years and more likely to be in school. Second, non-users appeared to be at a socioeconomic disadvantage (e.g., low-income families, parents with lower educational attainment) compared with child care users, highlighting the need to consider multiple vulnerabilities in child care characteristics (e.g., low income with additional support needs).

Difficulty finding child care varies between parents of child care users and non-users, but it is important to account for children whose parents do not look for child care to better understand the pattern of differences. Over half (56%) of parents not using child care were not looking for child care, and more than one-quarter (28%) reported difficulty finding child care. However, when those not looking for child care were excluded, about two-thirds (65%) of parents of non-users were found to report difficulty finding child care, compared with half of those of child care users (50%), and about 40% were on a waitlist for child care, compared with 18% of child care users.

In 2023, child care availability in their community was the most frequently reported difficulty among parents of child care users and non-users who reported difficulty finding child care. However, among parents of non-users, affordability and subsidy emerged as distinct difficulties in finding child care, and cost was one of the most frequently reported reasons for not using child care. While many parents of non-users preferred having a parent at home, after excluding children whose parents did not look for child care, a shortage of child care places or waitlists was the most frequently reported reason for not using child care, followed by the cost being too high. Overall, in 2023, availability and affordability remained as potential barriers to participating in child care among non-users whose parents looked for child care.

Future research may focus on identifying parents’ specific child care preferences that meet their children’s needs because of long-term conditions or disabilities and also examine whether parents of children with more severe long-term conditions or disabilities are more likely than those with less severe long-term conditions or disabilities to not look for child care. A replication of this study with more recent data would provide robust insights to inform whether availability and affordability remain as potential barriers to participating in child care after the rollout of the CWELCC system.

References

Arim, R., Kerr, S., Leanage, A., & Findlay, L. (2025). Identification of children with disabilities in the Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements: Children with Long-term Conditions and Disabilities. Analytical Studies: Methods and References No. 055. Statistics Canada.

Employment and Social Development Canada. (2017). Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework. (accessed October 16, 2024).

Kerr, S., Findlay, L., & Arim, R. (2024). Child care for young children with disabilities. Health Reports.

Parliament of Canada (2024). Bill C-35. (accessed October 16, 2024).

Statistics Canada (2024). Visible minority concept consultative engagement. (accessed October 12, 2024).