This study examined early childhood education and care (ECEC) utilization in Canada, focusing on use of unlicensed home child care (HCC) from an equity perspective. Data from the 2011 cycle of the General Social Survey (GSS) were used. Across Canada, parent responses reveal that 16.6% of children between the age of 12 months and entry to school were in unlicensed HCC. Another 24% of working parents reported having no regular form of non-parental childcare. Families with higher incomes were more likely to report using center-based care. Conversely, lower-income working parents with lower levels of education were more likely to use unlicensed HCC or report using no non-parental care at all. Comparison of parent responses in Ontario, however, where government estimates for the number of licensed and unlicensed HCC spaces are available, revealed that more parents report that their children are in licensed HCC than is possible. The lack of accurate parental reporting calls into question a key assumption of current regulatory systems, which is that parents are informed consumers of ECEC services. Given that many parents misreport the type of HCC their children use, and the equity concerns raised by the overall utilization patterns we found, we argue that governments need to take a more active role in oversight and support of HCC.

这项研究检查了加拿大的幼儿教育和护理（ECEC）的使用，从公平的角度着眼于无牌家庭儿童护理（HCC）的使用。使用了2011年一般社会调查（GSS）周期的数据。在整个加拿大，父母的反馈显示，在12个月大的孩子和入学之间的孩子中，有16.6％的孩子是未经许可的HCC。另有24％的在职父母表示没有常规形式的非父母育儿。收入较高的家庭更倾向于使用中心护理。相反，受教育程度较低的低收入在职父母更可能使用无执照的HCC或根本不使用非父母照料的报告。比较安大略省父母的回答，但政府可以提供有关许可的和非许可的HCC空间数量的估算，透露，更多的父母报告说他们的孩子在获得许可的HCC中的可能性更大。缺乏准确的父母报告会质疑当前监管体系的关键假设，即父母已被告知ECEC服务的消费者。鉴于许多父母误报了他们的孩子使用的HCC类型，以及我们发现的总体利用模式引起的公平问题，我们认为政府需要在HCC的监督和支持中发挥更加积极的作用。