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Child, Parent and Worker Vulnerabilities in Unregulated Childcare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2020

Zoë Goodall ,
Kay Cook  and
Rhonda Breitkreuz
Zoë Goodall
Affiliation:
Department of Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, E-mail: zgoodall@swin.edu.au
Kay Cook
Affiliation:
Department of Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, E-mail: kcook@swin.edu.au
Rhonda Breitkreuz
Affiliation:
Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta, Canada, E-mail: rhondab@ualberta.ca
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Abstract

In this article, we seek to develop a framework of childcare vulnerabilities experienced by children, parents and providers engaged in the formal, unregulated childcare market. Informed by vulnerability theorists who examine care work within the context of dependency and power relations, we explore the extent to which notions of vulnerability have been considered in childcare research. Five types of vulnerability from the literature – physical, emotional, economic, legal and racial – are mapped onto the experiences of children, parents and providers. We conceptualise an understanding of vulnerability as it relates to unregulated childcare, showing how vulnerability in this sector is compound, interrelated and structural, creating specific challenges.

Keywords

Childcarechildcare workersnanniesunregulated labour marketvulnerability
Type
Article
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 247 - 263
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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