ABSTRACT
Most parenting in the United States and worldwide is carried out by parents or relatives, but not all caregiving is conducted in that context. Here, we refer to nonparental caregiving and divide our discussion into two distinct areas: (1) nonparental caregiving that occurs in myriad childcare and early education settings during the hours parents are at work, and (2) nonparental caregiving conducted by child welfare agencies, including foster care and orphanages. In the former case, the children reside with their parents; in the latter case, this is not so. In each case, we identify the prevalence in the United States and in other parts of the world. We then turn to the forms this caregiving takes and the effects of nonparental caregiving on children’s development and, finally, we address elements that may introduce important variation.
