From Moms Rising (https://www.momsrising.org/):
Temperatures are dropping and snow is starting to fall across parts of our country, signaling the start of winter and the holiday season. But one thing is clear as ice: We have a child care crisis, and it needs to be solved!
So what do we need to do about it? Well, we need to turn up the volume as we tell Congress: STOP, collaborate, and listen! Child care access is frozen in the 1990s – but that doesn’t mean we should ice ice our babies!
Say whaaaat? Let’s back up. Next year is the 30 year anniversary of Vanilla Ice’s epic smash hit, Ice, Ice Baby. 1990 was also the year that Congress approved the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), an instrumental piece of legislation that has since helped millions of families find and afford high quality care [1]. And while CCDBG is as magical as Frosty the Snowman’s hat, we still hear daily that families are still struggling to find and afford care, 30 years later. It’s past time to more fully address this crisis.
Go to https://action.momsrising.org/sign/ccfwfa_iceicebaby to urge members of Congress to put an end to this chilly child care crisis by co-sponsoring the Child Care for Working Families Act! [2]
We hear the stories constantly: moms with no choice but to quit jobs they love because of the high-cost of care. Waiting lists so long that families are depleting their life’s savings to take unpaid time off work on the off chance a child care spot opens up. It’s never ending. One parent is even flying in different family members from across the country in shifts to piece together care. This is an unacceptable solution. Our current system isn’t working, and our families, quite literally, are getting iced out of work, school, and economic stability.
Families are trying their best. They are being stretched thinner than ice and scraping together whatever they can to make it work. As a nation we can (and must) do better.
The stories from families quite literally give me the chills, and not in a good way, but they don’t have to. Congress has a big, warm-mug-of-hot-cocoa solution on the table: The Child Care for Working Families Act. This is a 1990-hairdo-sized comprehensive solution that would expand access to affordable, high-quality childcare and pre-K for families while improving compensation and training for the childcare workforce. If passed, it would:
- Lower child care costs for low-income and middle-income families to no more than 7% of a family’s household income through a sliding scale, regardless of how many children they have.
- Support universal access to high-quality preschool programs for all low- and middle-income 3 and 4 year-olds.
- Significantly improve compensation and training for the childcare workforce (currently one of the lowest paid professions) to ensure that our nation’s teachers and caregivers have the support they need.
- Assist parents in selecting the childcare provider of their choice—whether that be a center or family child care home, friend, relative or neighbor. In addition, improve care during non-traditional hours to help meet the needs of working families.
- Support for more inclusive, high-quality childcare providers and centers for children with disabilities.
- Help all Head Start programs meet new expanded duration requirements and provide full-day, full-year programming. [3]
The Child Care for Working Families Act comes with real solutions to a bone-shatteringly cold child care crisis and families like mine are here for it!
It’s more important than ever that we speak up. Too often, people think of childcare as a “personal issue” – as in our own problem to solve. But we know that when enough people are experiencing the same problem, it’s not an epidemic of personal failings, but a larger problem that needs larger solutions. Continued investments like these can improve the well-being of our children, our own peace of mind and productivity at work, the care workforce, and our communities.
In fact, increasing access to high quality, affordable early learning opportunities (like child care)—particularly for vulnerable children—doesn’t just help families and workforce, it also helps our national economy.
One report found that the economic impact of the child care crisis in our country is costing an astounding $57 billion a year. BILLIONS in losses each year?! Now that’s something we can ice out – not our families! [4]
This is particularly staggering when considering that there is no better return on investment for taxpayers than investing in early education and care. According to one figure, for every $1 invested in early learning and childcare, taxpayers see a 13% return in investments due to fewer later grade repetitions, fewer later interactions with the criminal justice system, and more. [5] So instead of losing money, investments in early childhood are likely to lead to significant economic gains over time. Sounds like a great reason to tell our leaders in Washington, DC to stop, collaborate, and LISTEN to our stories, am I right?
‘Tis the season to invest in working families — it’s truly the greatest gift we can give. Will you give the gift of your voice, and add your name to urge members of Congress to cosponsor the Child Care for Working Families Act?
*The more of us who raise our voices on this issue, the more noise we’ll make and the more powerful we’ll be! After you take action, send this link to your friends and family so they can sign on too.
[1] History, Office of the Administration of Children & Families [2] “Child Care for Working Families Act. [3] Andrea Gonzalez-Ramirez. “This New Bill Could Make Child Care More Affordable for Working Families.” Refinery29, September, 14, 2017. [4] “Want to Grow the Economy? Fix the Child Care Crisis.” ReadyNation, January 2019. [5] Garcia, Heckman, Leaf, and Prados: The Lifecycle Benefits of an Influential Early Childhood Program, 2016
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