Childcare has recently become the focus of increased public attention due to the UK Coalition Government’s reduction of childcare tax credit from 80 percent to 70 percent of the childcare cost and a cut in child benefits for some earners. Furthermore, parents in the UK tend to have higher childcare costs than their European counterparts. In a Northern Irish context, high cost is also coupled with the lowest levels of childcare provision in the UK (McQuaid, Graham and Shapira, 2013) and the lack of centralised direction in the absence of a dedicated Northern Ireland Childcare Strategy.
Research has found that low wage earners, parents with more than one child, lone parent families, parents with a disabled child and those in rural areas may find it particularly difficult to find childcare arrangements that meet their needs (Walmsley and Fitzpatrick, 2003; Dennison and Smith, 2012; McQuaid et al 2013; Wallace, McAreavey and Atkin, 2013). Parents from Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities may also face these difficulties with additional pressures such as a language barrier, non traditional shift work pattern and unfamiliarity in accessing services.
Barnardo’s NI and the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) worked in partnership on the ‘Believe in Childcare?’ research with the aim to identify and understand the childcare needs of ethnic minority families with children aged 0 – 12 years old.