Child care subsidies help low-income families purchase child care, but the field lacks recent and longitudinal studies of patterns of participation. This study uses longitudinal administrative data from the Commonwealth of Virginia to: 1) examine subsidy program participation and duration in 2019 (N = 29,122); and 2) examine participation in public assistance programs including subsides among a cohort of children born in 2015 (N = 6,267). Findings indicate that, in general, few eligible children in Virginia benefit from child care subsidies before they enter kindergarten, and spells of participation in the subsidy program are brief. Results suggest that participation and stability vary by children's sex, race, ethnicity, and geography, with males, non-Hispanic white children, and those in rural areas experiencing higher levels of stability than their counterparts. Findings highlight the importance of additional investment in child care subsidies to reach eligible families and to support stable child care arrangements, key to children's development and parental employment.

托儿补贴帮助低收入家庭购买托儿服务，但该领域缺乏对参与模式的近期和纵向研究。本研究使用弗吉尼亚联邦的纵向行政数据来：1）检查 2019 年补贴计划的参与和持续时间（N  = 29,122）；2) 检查 2015 年出生的一组儿童参与公共援助计划的情况，包括补贴（N = 6,267)。调查结果表明，一般而言，弗吉尼亚州很少有符合条件的儿童在进入幼儿园之前从托儿补贴中受益，并且参与补贴计划的时间很短。结果表明，参与和稳定性因儿童的性别、种族、民族和地理而异，男性、非西班牙裔白人儿童和农村地区的儿童比他们的同龄人经历更高水平的稳定性。调查结果强调了对儿童保育补贴进行额外投资以覆盖符合条件的家庭并支持稳定的儿童保育安排的重要性，这是儿童发展和父母就业的关键。