Motherly Care: The impacts of exiting a childcare program on child and maternal health

Chris Boyd (), Norma Correa (), Angelo Cozzubo () and Jose Renteria ()
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Chris Boyd: Department of Economics, Towson University
Norma Correa: Department of Social Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
Angelo Cozzubo: Department of Economics, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
Jose Renteria: Department of Economics, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

No 2026-06, Working Papers from Towson University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We investigate the unintended impacts of exiting Peru’s Cuna Más public childcare program on child and maternal health. With increased public child- care use in developing countries, understanding the effects of program exit is critical. We use Cuna Más’ strict age-based graduation rule to identify causal impacts, leveraging comprehensive data from the Demographic and Family Health Survey for the period 2015-2019. Our results suggest that mothers prioritize their children’s health over their own upon program exit. While maternal mental health shows a notable decline, children's health remains unaffected. These results have important policy implications, highlighting the need for post-program transitional support to mitigate hidden costs for mothers and enhance the positive outcomes children gain during program participation.

Keywords: Early childhood interventions; Childcare; Child development. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I21 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 74 pages
Date: 2026-03, Revised 2026-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-hea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tow:wpaper:2026-06

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