From Moms Rising (https://www.momsrising.org/):
Last week the New York Times shared shocking statistics about early child care support in the United States. Brace yourself….it turns out rich countries contribute an average of $14,000 per year for a toddler’s care, compared with just $500 in the U.S. [1] You read that right, the U.S. ONLY spends a low $500 on early child care compared to much, MUCH higher investments in similarly resourced nations! [2] The gaps in these numbers are mind-blowing, but the truth is undeniable. In the developed world, the United States is an outlier in its low levels of financial support for young children’s care and early education. [3]
This is absolutely unacceptable and infuriating. It’s time to demand that our elected leaders act now to support kids and families by passing a care infrastructure (including child care and paid family medical leave) ASAP at https://action.momsrising.org/sign/NY_Times_Care_RR!
Building a care infrastructure is key to changing these shameful numbers and helping our economy. The package that we are demanding Congress pass now to address this includes:
- A comprehensive, federally funded child care system that ensures all families have access to high-quality, affordable child care which is available when and where they need it and invests in the education and compensation of a diverse workforce.
- Ensuring that all care workers, as well as every person in our nation, is paid living wages of at least $15 per hour (and get rid of the harmful lower tipped minimum wage); and investing in communities by reimagining safety and divesting from punishment and policing.
- Paid Family and Medical Leave that would ensure all working people have access to at least 12 weeks of paid leave to bond with a new child, address a personal or family-related serious illness, or handle needs that arise from a military deployment.
- Make permanent the fully refundable part of the Child Tax Credit so the program ensures all eligible low-income children have access to this critical support, and also to extend the increased size of the Child Tax Credit to 2025.
- Invest in Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services to create over one million union protected direct care jobs, expand access to home and community-based services to people with disabilities and aging adults, support unpaid family caregivers to re-join the labor force, and advance a path to citizenship for essential workers, Dreamers, and TPS holders, and their families.
The disparities between us and similarly resourced nations are sadly not new. And the pandemic has only made things worse. All of this is a larger, long-running systemic problem that needs MAJOR systemic solutions and investments. Currently, the U.S. loses $57 billion each year in economic productivity and revenue losses due to child care. [4] And when it comes to early child care, just seven states (and the District of Columbia) serve more than half of 4-year-olds, with 14 states having no public preschool or serve less than 10 percent of children. [5] And in more than half of all states, child care for an infant in a child care center costs more than in-state college tuition. [6]
And as the New York Times article points out, the situation is much different in many rich countries, where there is more comprehensive support for families. In Europe, new parents have paid family/medical leave of 14 months, on average, after a new baby arrives — and it’s common for children to start public school at age 3. [7]
Paid family/medical leave is essential to millions of workers and their families but the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without a federal paid leave policy. [8] Providing a comprehensive and permanent paid leave program is an investment in the care infrastructure and ensures business prosper and our economy thrive. It also means working families are able to utilize paid family/medical leave to heal from childbirth, bond with a new child, deal with one’s own serious health issues, provide care to an aging family member or one with a disability or deal with a loved one’s military deployment. Paid family/medical leave is one of the most widely supported policies in the country. [9] We need effective tools and family-friendly policies like paid leave so working families are not forced to choose between earning a paycheck and taking care of their families.
Another key part of the care infrastructure that’s on the line are the improvements to the Child Tax Credit (CTC), thanks to the American Rescue Plan, signed by President Biden in March, which made it so that most families are now getting monthly payments to help raise their kids. How much money? For every child under the age of 6 families should be receiving $300/month and for each child ages 6-17 should receive $250/month. Plus, now those of us who made little or no income in the past year will still be able to get the CTC! That’s some serious cash that has already done some serious good in helping our families make ends meet during this difficult time. This policy alone is slated to lift nearly half of children out of poverty. In fact, 3.4 million Latinas and 2 million Black women will directly benefit from the expansion of the Child Tax Credit. [10] And we’ve already seen in just a few months that these checks are reducing hunger and poverty for families across the country.
We can do all of these things. We can’t let Congress force a false choice between these critical policies for children and families because they boost our families, our businesses, and our economy. Paid Family and Medical Leave, high-quality child care, the Child Tax Credit, and all of our care economy policies are mutually reinforcing. This isn’t a salad bar. And it’s not a hand out. This is an investment in our collective ability to thrive that studies show will lift our nation’s GDP by 10 – 15 basis points.
We have the chance to turn this situation around and finally give all families the care and support they really need to thrive. We cannot let this moment pass us by, and with your actions, perhaps our country can finally show the world that we love our families and want them to succeed.
References:
[1][2][3][7] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/upshot/child-care-biden.html[4] https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/10/30/492582/covid-19-sent-womens-workforce-progress-backward
[5] https://www.childcareaware.org/our-issues/research/the-us-and-the-high-price-of-child-care-2019
[6] https://www.childcareaware.org/our-issues/research/the-us-and-the-high-price-of-child-care-2019
[8] Quick Facts on Paid Family and Medical Leave
[9] New Survey Shows Voters in Senate Battleground States Want Paid Leave Urgently, as Part of Infrastructure Package
[10] https://www.cbpp.org/blog/making-child-tax-credit-fully-available-would-benefit-6-million-women-of-color
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