Immigrants Families and Childcare Preferences: Do Immigrants’ Cultures Influence Their Childcare Decisions?

The author examines childcare preferences of African immigrant parents living in the United States. Based on interviews with eighteen parents with preschool-aged children and working within Bryman, Lewis-Beck, and Liao’s (2004) narrative inquiry, the author demonstrates that although many of the African immigrants surveyed for the study preferred family members to take care of their children in their own homes to instill African cultural identity in their children, the majority of their children were in childcare centers. The author demonstrates further that although putting children in childcare centers is not their topmost choice, in spite of their precarious financial situation, and despite the high cost of putting children in childcare centers, the immigrants were still happy to put their children in childcare centers because of their busy schedules. The immigrants’ collective nature of child upbringing contributed to their choice. The author recommends that centers must take the immigrants’ culture into consideration during their operations.