Corporate childcare centers: which benefits for caregiver-child relationship?

More and more companies in Italy, both public and private, provide their personnel with corporate childcare centers. This offers benefits both for families and companies (i.e. support, saving on costs and an early return of employees after delivery). Good quality facilities are able to create an environment that enhances socio-emotional development and that engenders satisfaction among employees. The objective of this research was to evaluate adaptive and affective development in a group of children placed in a corporate childcare center and the mother’s well-being at the return at work after maternity leave. Specifically 20 mother-child dyads were evaluated three times during a year of stay at the corporate child care center. At each stage children were assessed on emotional and adaptive development (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, CBCL) while mothers were evaluated on quality of mother-child interactions during free play (EAS), marital satisfaction (DAS), multi social perceived support (MSPS), and psychological functioning (SCL-90). In line with expected development, adaptive behaviors increased at each stage. Globally the dyads showed a good quality of mother-child interactions, indicating an increasing ability of the infants to involve their caregivers in positive emotional exchanges. Some association between perceived support, couple satisfaction, maternal psychological functioning and mother-infant relationship also emerged, underlining the importance of a contextual frame when considering the dyad. The mothers also expressed their satisfaction toward the child care center, defining it as a perceived support for the relationship with their babies. In societies where both parents are asked to work all day, it is important to focus on the quality of educational facilities for early infancy in order to ensure environments that are sensitive and responsive to the needs of the children and to create adequate contexts for affective and relational development.