Access to child care is critical for parents to rejoin the workforce, yet deciding on a child care arrangement is a difficult decision that has become even harder due to the pandemic. A parent’s decision to use a formal (a child care center, family child care home or preschool) or informal (parent provided care or relative care) child care arrangement depends on a variety of factors such as accessibility, affordability, and trust. For American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) parents, a legacy of injustices, lack of trust, and the desire for intentional learning of cultures also affects these choices.

There are 574 federally recognized tribal nations and Alaska Native villages and 326 federal Indian reservations. As of 2019, there were approximately 5.7 million people in the U.S. who identified as American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN), or about two percent of the U.S. population. According to 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data, there are an estimated 179,000 AI/AN children under five years old. Nearly half live in single-parent households and about a third (30%) of them live below the federal poverty line, compared to 13% of children under five nationally. Although federal programs do exist to serve AI/AN children and families, limited funding means these programs only serve a fraction of AI/AN children and families.

In December 2021, the Bipartisan Policy Center and Morning Consult conducted a national survey of AI/AN parents with children under 12 to understand their current use of and demand for child care. In particular, BPC wanted to gauge what AI/AN parents consider when making child care decisions, access to care in their community, and the impact on their ability to work. Below are key takeaways from the survey.