Research on immigrant populations shows that child care choices are dependent on the population’s region of origin. While the Russian immigrant population in the United States comprises the largest group of immigrants from Eastern Europe and is likely to increase in the future, there is virtually no research on Russian immigrant families’ child care search and selection criteria. This qualitative study applies the theoretical model of Pungello and Kurtz-Costes (1999), which illustrates how factors such as parental demographic characteristics, environmental context, child characteristics, and parental beliefs play into families’ child care selection. The study draws from semi-structured interviews with 11 Russian immigrant families residing in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States to examine their child care search processes and selection criteria. Results revealed that most parents found child care through friends’ recommendations, Internet search, and online reviews. Nine themes describing child care criteria valued by Russian immigrant families emerged from the analysis. Specifically, parents mentioned culture and personal beliefs, child characteristics, convenience, cost and subsidy, education and learning, program features, facilities and environment, teacher characteristics, and rating and reputation as the major factors in selecting child care. Understanding Russian immigrant parents’ child care information sources and selection criteria will allow for early care and education (ECE) providers to accommodate the needs of Russian immigrant population and for policymakers to facilitate access to ECE programs for these families.

对移民人口的研究表明，托儿服务选择取决于人口的原籍地区。虽然在美国的俄罗斯移民人口是来自东欧的最大移民群体，并且未来可能会增加，但几乎没有关于俄罗斯移民家庭的托儿服务搜索和选择标准的研究。这项定性研究应用了 Pungello 和 Kurtz-Costes （1999） 的理论模型，该模型说明了父母人口特征、环境背景、儿童特征和父母信念等因素如何影响家庭的托儿选择。该研究借鉴了对居住在美国中大西洋地区的 11 个俄罗斯移民家庭的半结构化访谈，以检查他们的托儿服务搜索过程和选择标准。结果显示，大多数父母通过朋友的推荐、互联网搜索和在线评论找到了托儿服务。分析中出现了描述俄罗斯移民家庭重视的托儿标准九个主题。具体来说，家长提到文化和个人信仰、孩子特点、便利性、成本和补贴、教育和学习、项目特色、设施和环境、教师特点以及评级和声誉是选择托儿服务的主要因素。了解俄罗斯移民父母的托儿信息来源和选择标准将使早期护理和教育 （ECE） 提供者能够满足俄罗斯移民人口的需求，并使政策制定者能够为这些家庭获得 ECE 计划提供便利。