Preface

This document was prepared for the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Force Management and Personnel). The research was conducted by the Defense Manpower Research Center, part of RAND's National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the Joint Staff.

The objectives of the research were fourfold: to assess the extent to which existing child development services meet the needs of military users in terms of accessibility, quality, readiness, morale, and affordability; to recommend alternative ways to allocate existing resources to more effectively meet both military and family objectives; to suggest new policies regarding the organization and structure of child development services; and to examine excess demand for child care, particularly its implications for the size and scope of child care operations.

The report presents data from site visits to 16 military installations, from interviews with DoD policymakers and those responsible for child care policy and operations in each service, and from secondary analyses of data from the RAND Arroyo Center Survey of Army Families.