Child Care

Hats off to Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, who announced an impressive plan to invest in strengthening the state’s education system, including not only the K-12 and higher education systems, but early education as well. The Governor recommends that $350 million be targeted over four years to expand and improve the state’s early education and care system. This investment would eliminate the state’s waiting list of nearly 30,000 children who need but cannot currently access child care assistance, expand the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) to help early educators and providers offer higher-quality experiences to children and families, increase educational programs and supports for parents and family members, and strengthen efforts to provide comprehensive support to children and families. In addition, new school finance funding would be used to incentivize school districts to offer prekindergarten for four-year-olds.

In order to raise the revenue necessary to support these fundamental education initiatives, Governor Patrick, in his state of the state address, proposed to increase the state income tax by one percent, to 6.25 percent. He also proposed to double personal exemptions and eliminate certain itemized deductions in an attempt to distribute the burden of the tax increase based on ability to pay.        Read more »

Earlier this year, over 800 West Virginia families with 1,400 children were told they would lose their child care assistance due to changes in the state's eligibility requirements as of January 2013. But this week, those families received a reprieve when Governor Tomblin, recognizing how important child care is to helping families, announced he would be tabling the changes for further review.

West Virginia's income eligibility limit for a family to initially qualify for child care assistance is 150 percent of poverty ($28,635 a year for a family of three), but families already receiving assistance can continue to receive it with incomes up to 185 percent of poverty ($35,317 a year for a family of three). Under the proposed changes, families would have lost assistance as soon as their income reached 150 percent of poverty. Families would have had to find a way to cover the entire cost of care on their own just as they were starting to make progress in their financial situation, but when they were still far from being financially secure.

A report from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy issued in November helped make the case against the proposed cuts by highlighting the effects the cuts would have on children, families, and the economy. The report called for the state to step up and invest its own resources following the expiration of the additional federal child care funds that had been provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Read more »

The National Women's Law Center's annual report on state child care assistance policies, Downward Slide: State Child Care Assistance Policies Report 2012, examined policies that are critical in determining families' access to child care assistance and the extent of help they receive from that assistance — income eligibility limits, waiting lists, parents copayments, provider reimbursement rates, and eligibility for parents searching for a job. The report found that families in 27 states were worse off in February 2012 than in February 2011 under one or more of these child care assistance policies, and families in 17 states were better off under one or more of these policies. Yet this tells only part of the story. Many other policies affect whether families can get help affording high-quality child care. These policies are particularly important to highlight since a number of states have recently made changes to them — some positive, some negative. The Center's new fact sheet, On the Edges: Child Care Assistance Policies that Affect Parents, Providers, and Children, describes some of these policies and provides a few examples of recent state policy changes.

Some states have adopted changes to their eligibility policies that make it more difficult for families to receive child care assistance. For example, Kansas began requiring that most adults receiving child care assistance be employed a minimum of 20 hours per week (unless they meet criteria for exemption). Nevada no longer provides child care assistance for parents in education or training programs (except for minor parents working toward their high school diploma or GED). These policy changes can create barriers for parents who are just starting a job and only have limited hours or parents who are trying to get the education they need for better-paying, more stable employment — parents who are trying to gain more secure financial footing, but who can only do that if they have child care that allows them to work. Read more »

As Republicans and Democrats struggle to reach a compromise before the impending fiscal cliff, some media and policy advisors from across the political spectrum are finding agreement on one issue: the importance of investing in early learning and the need to make the well-being of young children a national priority.

Mark McKinnon, a former advisor for President George W. Bush, recently appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe to discuss the importance of early childhood intervention. During the interview, McKinnon was asked to identify a specific investment that can improve the well-being of American children. "Money spent early on has a much greater return on investment," McKinnon responded. Programs that intervene in children's lives during the crucial years from birth to age five, especially children from low-income families, prepare them for future success and must be prioritized.

McKinnon argues that improving child well-being is part of a broader set of issues that transcend party lines. He is currently working with former Obama campaign advisor Jim Margolis to produce a mass media campaign called Too Small to Fail. Launched in November by the Center for the Next Generation, Too Small to Fail attempts to convey the consequences of neglecting the needs of our nation's children and highlight strategies for supporting children. Read more »

A growing number of states are adopting Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) as a strategy for strengthening the quality of child care. QRIS are designed to assess the quality of child care providers, give providers encouragement and incentives to improve, and help parents weigh their child care options. Read more »

Families in 27 states were worse off under one or more key state child care assistance policies in 2012 than in 2011 and better off in just 17 states, according a new report from the National Women’s Law Center. This was the second year in row with negative news for families needing help paying for child care. Families in 37 states were worse off under one or more policies in 2011 than in 2010, and better off in only 11 states.

The new report, Downward Slide: State Child Care Assistance Policies 2012, examines state policies as of February 2012 in five important areas—income eligibility limits for child care assistance, waiting lists for child care assistance, copayments for families receiving child care assistance, reimbursement rates for child care providers, and eligibility for child care assistance while a parent searches for a job. Gaps in these policies leave many families without access to child care assistance or without the level of assistance they need to afford good-quality care for their children.

Do you have a great story to tell about your child care? If so, we want to hear about it!

The National Women's law Center just launched a new Tumblr to be a hub for all things fabulous about families' child care experiences. Share yours and read others at www.mychildcarelovestory.tumblr.com! Read more »

Last week, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to speak on a panel sponsored by the New America Foundation on Child Care Issues and the Presidential Election. I wanted to share some of those remarks. For the full remarks and for a video of the panel, click here.

Throughout my long career in child care advocacy, I have always heard that it is not the right time for children and families and we don’t have enough money to do what is right. That should not be the starting point for this discussion. For more low-income children to be in the high-quality early childhood settings that we know will improve their chances for better life outcomes, there must be increased investments to support children, parents, early childhood educators, and child care programs – and that is not impossible.

Monday evening, a group of children brought home dried bean mosaics. The week before that they brought home animals made from clay. And the week before that they brought home papier maché masks. All this artwork is courtesy of students in the afterschool art club my cousin teaches.

My cousin comes up with super creative projects – puppets, collages, sculptures, and lots of papier maché. The children’s work is colorful and charming and I can only imagine how much fun they have after school with Ms. Liz.

But not every child has access to a fun and educational afterschool program. Last week, the Afterschool Alliance, an organization that advocates for affordable, high-quality afterschool opportunities, released a report (pdf) showing that afterschool programs are struggling to meet community needs in a time of high unemployment and reduced economic security among many families. Read more »

While a number of states have made cuts to their child care assistance programs—leading to more restrictive eligibility criteria to qualify for help paying for care, longer waiting lists to receive help, higher copayments for parents receiving child care assistance, or lower provider reimbursement rates—several states have more positive news to report. Read more »