Child Care

In the past two weeks, several Washington Post articles have raised an issue that has not been the focus of a national political campaign since 1988—child care. It should be a top topic of the campaign debate because it is a basic support for millions of American families and because it is closely connected to the most pressing issues on the agenda today—jobs, the economy, and our nation’s budget priorities.

All families, regardless of income, struggle to find safe and supportive child care. Because the United States is one of only six countries that does not offer paid parental leave (PDF), many parents must start their search for child care soon after their babies arrive—or even before. Ask any parent what that search is like, and they will typically talk about how long the waiting lists are for a slot in a child care program, especially for infants and toddlers, and what limited choices they have in their neighborhoods for high-quality child care. Their stories are frustratingly similar.

Parents shoulder most of the burden for their child care costs—about 60 percent of child care is covered by parent fees. The private sector barely kicks in with about one percent of the support. Read more »

Wednesday, I attended a rally organized by the NDD Summit, a group that the National Women’s Law Center has joined that is working to protect important domestic programs that would face across-the-board cuts starting in January. These are programs that educate our children, support our elderly citizens, and help low-income women afford child care so they can work and their children can get a strong start in school. At the rally, I listened to a mother share how the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) helped her achieve self-sufficiency when she was struggling.

Three years ago, after the dissolution of her marriage, Rita Ngabo found herself jobless and homeless with a 9-month old baby. With the help of temporary cash assistance and a child care subsidy through CCDBG, Rita was able to attend classes to develop work skills and go on interviews to secure a job. As Rita says, it was hard work, but it paid off. She is now a child care case worker in Maryland who helps other parents who were in her shoes, and her daughter is thriving. Read more »

California has approved a budget that rejects drastic cuts proposed by the governor earlier in the year — but that still includes significant funding reductions for child care and early education programs. Under the final budget signed by the governor, child care and development programs will receive a $130 million cut, which could result in an estimated 26,500 fewer children being able to participate in these programs. The legislature had approved slightly smaller cuts in the budget sent to the governor, but at the last minute, the governor used his line item veto to make additional cuts.

In addition to preventing steeper cuts, the legislature turned back the governor’s earlier proposal to restructure the child care program and transfer administration of the program to county welfare agencies. The state also will not place new limits on child care assistance for parents while they attend education programs.

The approved budget does not provide a previously planned cost of living increase for child care programs. However, it does not reduce reimbursement rates for child care providers as the governor proposed, which would have deprived providers of the resources they need to offer high-quality care. Read more »

Three new studies provide additional evidence of the importance of early childhood investments for ensuring children’s successful development and future well-being.

A study published in the journal Child Development found that children whose families received child care assistance were able to attend higher-quality child care than children whose families were eligible for, but did not receive, child care assistance. Given that that higher-quality care can help boost children’s growth and learning, this new study shows the importance of helping more low-income families pay for child care so they can afford good options. However, the study also found that the quality of care used by families receiving child care assistance was not as high as the quality of care for families using Head Start and public prekindergarten programs, suggesting that even more can be done to improve families’ access to high-quality care. Read more »

This week, we had a small piece of good news about federal investments in child care and early education. On June 12, the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee approved a fiscal year 2013 appropriations bill that included increased funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), Head Start, and early intervention services and provided new funding for Race to the Top, with a portion set aside for the Early Learning Challenge.

The bill would increase Child Care and Development Block Grant discretionary funding by $160 million, to $2.438 billion. (Discretionary funding is set each year; there is also $2.917 billion in mandatory CCDBG funding.) The increase includes $90 million to support training, education, and other professional development opportunities for the early care and education workforce, which is key to improving the overall quality of early care and education, and $70 million to help more families pay for care and raise reimbursement rates for child care providers. By providing funding to expand the availability of child care assistance as well as to enhance the quality of the workforce, the Senate Subcommittee is signaling that it recognizes investments in both areas are essential in giving families access to higher-quality child care options. Read more »

This blog post is a part of NWLC’s Mother’s Day 2012 blog series. For all our Mother’s Day posts, please click here.

As mothers across the country celebrate Mother’s Day with their children this Sunday, many will be enjoying their time together with their daughters and sons. But many mothers who have young children and work outside the home will be looking ahead to the work week with trepidation, worrying about their child care arrangements.

Some mothers will be fortunate enough to have grandparents or relatives available and willing to provide child care—just like my brother and sister, who have children ranging in ages from 3 to 14, are able to rely on our Mom and Dad to provide care and after-school pick-ups and drop-offs. Some mothers earn enough to afford high-quality, dependable child care in a center or family child care home, where their children receive plenty of attention, nurturing, support, and opportunities to learn. And some mothers are able to receive child care assistance to help them afford the care they want for their children and that they need to work and to have peace of mind while at work.

Yet, many other mothers do not have any good child care options. In many cases, grandparents and relatives live far away, have to work themselves, or are not available to provide care for other reasons. Mothers often are not able to find conveniently located, high-quality child care with slots available, or are not able to find child care that covers their work hours—particularly if they work hours other than the traditional 9am to 5pm. Or they may find a terrific child care program, but are not able to afford it. Read more »

When policymakers formulate their agenda priorities, whose interests are at the forefront of their minds?

Put Child Care on the Map!

Join the initiative - Register for the kickoff conference call on Thursday, May 17 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern!

It is hard to remember that even though access to good quality child care is something that you and I spend a lot of time working on and advocating for, not everyone does - including our policymakers. And unfortunately, not all of us have strong relationships with the people that vote on critical policies like child care that affect women, children, and families.

We want to change that – and we need you! Join our new initiative: Putting Child Care on the Map.

Over the next year, with your help, we plan to cover a lot of ground to make sure Members of Congress hear about child care while they’re in their state and district offices. We’ll be working with advocates nationwide who know first-hand that child care matters in order to break through the political noise. We’ll put child care on the map for Congress – and then we’ll put it on our OWN map, to track our successes! Read more »

Take Action: Tell Your Representative to Vote NO

Protect millions of women and families from the harsh spending cuts the House is voting on this week.

They just never stop.

Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed the budget blueprint introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). The Ryan budget calls for drastic cuts in programs that low-income women and their families depend on to meet their basic needs — and trillions of dollars in additional tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and corporations.

This week, the House will vote on a bill to implement the Ryan budget by slashing Medicaid, Food Stamps (SNAP), child care, and more, and dismantling the Affordable Care Act.

Please contact your Representative TODAY and tell him or her to vote against these devastating cuts!

The bill the House is scheduled to vote on this Thursday, H.R. 4966, would:

• Let states reduce eligibility standards for Medicaid, which women disproportionately rely on for health care coverage, and for the Children's Health Insurance Program.
• Dismantle the Affordable Care Act, by eliminating funding for state health exchanges and community-level preventive and public health initiatives, and by reducing access to affordable health insurance coverage by discouraging the use of premium tax credits.
• Terminate the Social Services Block Grant, which gives billions of dollars to states to support seniors and children, including critical funding for child care assistance.
• Cut Food Stamp (SNAP) benefits, reducing monthly benefits almost immediately for about 44 million people and denying benefits altogether for as many as 2 million more.
• Eliminate eligibility for the refundable Child Tax Credit for many immigrant families.

Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) recently introduced the Ensuring Child Care for Working Families Act of 2012 (H.R. 5188), a bill that would guarantee child care assistance for families with incomes up to 200 percent of poverty who need child care to work or attend an education or training program. The bill would eliminate the cap on federal funding for child care, and states would receive matching federal funds for every eligible family they serve.

The bill would provide tremendous help to parents with incomes at or below 200 percent of poverty who are straining to make ends meet and afford their basic needs.  These parents are trying to work to support their families and gain some financial stability. But in order to work—or attend an education or training program that will give them the knowledge and skills required for a stable job with decent pay—they need child care, which can be difficult to afford. The average cost of full-time care for one child ranges from $3,600 to $18,200 annually, depending on where the family lives, the type of care, and the age of the child. Read more »

Three child care center directors spoke about the benefits and challenges of quality rating and improvement systems during a conference call held last week by the National Women’s Law Center and the Center for Law and Social Policy. Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) assess the quality of child care programs, offer incentives and assistance to programs to improve their ratings, and give information to parents about the quality of child care. To gain an inside perspective on these systems and develop recommendations for strengthening them, CLASP and NWLC interviewed a number of child care directors from across the country and produced a report, A Count for Quality, based on their experiences and insights. Participants in last week’s conference call had a chance to hear first-hand from three of the directors interviewed for that report.

The directors, who were from Maine, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, praised QRIS for giving high-quality providers validation, setting a bar for quality, establishing high expectations, providing a rallying point and mutual goal for staff, and engaging parents. The directors also appreciated the financial benefits provided by QRIS, including higher reimbursements for higher-quality programs serving children receiving child care assistance, scholarships for staff to receive additional education, and grants for materials, as well as the technical assistance they received. The director from Maine highlighted the fact that parents using highly rated care receive double the standard amount for the state’s child care tax credit. Read more »