A new report out on Wednesday, based on interviews with 70 BME parentsrecruited through children's centres and refugee networks acrossEngland, found that many of them are unaware that they can get help topay for childcare through tax credits.
Interviewees included new migrants and asylum seekers and refugees, aswell as established communities.
'Increasing the use of childcare among BME families is crucial to theGovernment's target of eliminating child poverty in Britain by 2020,'the report says. It recommends more free places and more outreach workto bring BME communities into children's centres.
Playbuses or 'stay and play' sessions were often the first point ofcontact for childcare for BME families, the survey found.
Different ethnic groups had different reasons for using childcare. Someparents, especially new migrants, were also reluctant to leave theirchild in a setting where no-one spoke their own language.
Researcher Aoife Fitzpatrick told Nursery World, 'There was also aperception that you could justify sending your child to group carebecause they felt it was more structured and educational than using achildminder.'
She added, 'The most striking thing was how beneficial havinggood-quality childcare can be for new migrants. It can have a hugelypositive impact on families, helping them to learn English andintegrate.
'Any cost for some parents is an issue and many will only use childcareif it's free. Part of getting parents to use childcare is building upthe idea that childcare is good.'
Download Listening to Black and Minority Ethnic Parents about Childcareat www.daycaretrust.org.uk.