The Role of Informal Childcare in Mothers’ Experiences of Care and Employment: A Qualitative Lifecourse Analysis

Abstract

Drawing on interview data collected as part of a qualitative longitudinal (QL) study with single mothers in receipt of income support, this chapter focuses on these mothers’ experiences of entering employment or study, and balancing these new commitments with their existing caring commitments. In the context of an international trend towards increasingly stringent activation requirements targeted at single parents (Haux, Soc Policy Soc 11(01):1–14, 2012; Haux, J Int Comp Soc Policy 29(2):122–133, 2013; Knijn et al., Soc Policy Adm 41(6):638–652, 2007) it is crucial to understand what helps single mothers gain and maintain employment. This chapter argues that informal carers, in the context of a mixed childcare package (concurrent use of formal and informal childcare), play an important role in facilitating single mothers’ entry into employment and employment sustainability over time. By using a lifecourse perspective, and drawing on a qualitative longitudinal study, this chapter reveals the degree to which the childcare needs of single mothers and their children are dynamic, something that has been largely overlooked in the existing literature. Furthermore, this chapter underscores how the inflexibility of formal childcare makes it hard for single mothers to enter employment/study and sustain it over time.