BlogHer - BlogHers Act: Childcare in America - Shame On Us - Comments

The affordability of child

francisjames — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:20:30 -0500

The affordability of child care has become an issue for greater numbers of low-income families as millions have left the welfare rolls for employment since the mid-1990s. Child care subsidies are not an entitlement, and not all low-income families receive help. For instance, the primary source of federal funding for subsidized child care—the Child Care and Development Fund—serves only 10 percent to 15 percent of the children who are eligible for those subsidies (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1999). Most families that have left the welfare system and are working are not receiving child care subsidies (Schumacher and Greenberg 1999).

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francis

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Adding My $0.02...

Crimson Wife — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:48:45 -0500

If we had a year's worth of paid parental leave with health coverage and job protection in this country like most other developed nations have, there wouldn't be such a huge problem with finding affordable, high-quality daycare IMHO. Yes, you'd still have some moms voluntarily going back early but I'd be willing to bet most would stay home the full 12 months. Plus the ones going back early would likely be the affluent white collar professionals who hire nannies anyways.

The most expensive and hardest to find childcare is infant care. In addition, having a 12 mos paid maternity leave would help with bonding and also increase the percentage of moms who breastfeed.

Rather than using tax money to subsidize daycare, I'd like to see it used to allow moms to stay home with their babies for the critical first year.

And also...

Suzanne Reisman — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 09:10:12 -0500

This isn't about staying at home vs. working; all kids should have some form of early education experience before attending school. Not for the reasons the Bush administration likes to insist (learning to read at age three is absurdly developmentally inappropriate for most kids), but because having experience in an organized, social setting makes the adjustment to school far easier. Kids have less separation anxiety, and understand basic expectations like taking your coat off and hanging it in a cubby or sitting on the rug at circle time. Once the behavior and mind-set for learning are in place, that's when learning can begin. Kindergarten teachers who have to teach those basic skills lose time on other topics, like learning to read.

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

It's such a critical issue

Suzanne Reisman — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 09:05:49 -0500

I am so glad that you chose this as your issue, too. I've worked on child care policy for 10 years, and the lack of attention this issue receives is shocking. I cannot understand how it is not a priority in this country to ensure that all children have a nurturing and educational early childhood experience. And unless parents are super rich, no one can afford to pay the real cost of high quality child care. As a result, pay for staff is absurdly low, industry turnover is high (about 40% per year), and when qualified teachers do make the sacrifice to work for lower pay (and far less time off) at a child care center than they could at a school, inappropriately designed facilities (ie - cramming kids in a church basement or any cheap space that can be rustled up) leads to higher incident of on-the-job injuries. It is pathetic, and there's no reason it should be this way. Except that politicians don't care about kids and parents don't make it a voting issue. Any thoughts on why that might be? (I've been curious for a long time.)

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

thanks for the links

el e e — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:18:49 -0500

Dorothy, thanks for linking to the Child Care organizations. I will be checking them out. This is SUCH an important topic and you articulated it very well.

el-e-e

happily blah-blah-ing at hello, self

I am one of the very lucky

skenny — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 20:36:58 -0500

I am one of the very lucky people who found unbelievably affordable in-home childcare. Although not a licensed child-care provider, she was a former kindergarten teacher taking a mommy break and the best friend of one of my friends. She was five minutes from the school where I teach as well as five minutes from my husband's school. My son thrived in her care. I went to work everyday this school year knowing that my son was in excellent hands. Sadly, my sitter is returning to teaching and I have to find a new arrangement. Needless to say, I am petrified of a) not finding someone as good as her and b) not finding someone as affordable as her.

Amen

Mistress Of The Dorkness — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:08:21 -0500

Finding quality childcare is definitely the hardest part about being a working parent. Unfortunately, staying home wasn't a choice for me. I spent more than I could really afford, but, was always comfortable with his care (he's been in two childcare centers... his first one 2mo-3yrs closed with only two weeks notice for the children and employees). Luckily I was able to get him into a great center in my own company within that time frame. It was close, though.

My boss always urged me to get a nanny when I had to take off work because the little one had been sent home sick... I couldn't, though. I just don't trust any one person without external checks and balances to care for my most precious responsibility.

Melanie Perry
***not all who wander are lost***
Mistress of the Dorkness

We could learn a lot from other countries

Ali — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:40:23 -0500

Ali

I lived in France for thirteen years, and gave birth to both of my children there. While I did have my MIL to help out, I also benefited from subsidized day care. At one point, with both children in the same place, I was paying about a dollar an hour per child.

And all-day preschool is free and available from age 3 (or 2+ in some places) on up.

Prenatal care is also great in France, too, but that's getting off the subject.

The downside to these benefits is higher taxes, but at least some of those taxes are invested in the future: children.

I think paying for the best

KEYNOTER — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 12:08:29 -0500

I think paying for the best childcare you can afford is a very good investment in the future of your child. Guilt is a mothers lot when it comes to her children. We feel guilty if we leave the children in the care of others while we work and we feel guilty we are not reaching our potential after all those years of studying, pre baby, if we choose to stay at home. I gave up a very well paid job to stay at home with my four children because here in Ireland good childcare is more expensive than the best private boarding school in the country. It was my choice and I am happy with my choice. It suits me and it suits my family. I think you have done the right thing by your daughter and I wish you and your husband a happy and guilt free life with your angel

BlogHers Act: Childcare in America - Shame On Us

Rita Arens — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:38:43 -0500

More than 70% of families with younger-than-school-age children utilize childcare in America, including mine. We just switched the little angel from our beloved Emerald City in Kansas City, Missouri, to a new daycare in the suburbs, a new daycare that is expensive. We got on the waiting lists for other, less-expensive daycares, but this was the one we could find that met our standards and could take the little angel right away.

Iâ€™m an editor and my husband is a financial representative, and our salaries together afford us a decent living. It will be a challenge to swing the new daycare price hike, but we can do it. I doubt we could afford to put a baby in daycare there in addition to the little angel, though. Two children in daycare at that school would cost us around $1,800 a month, or $21,600 a year post-tax. For the little angel alone we pay $9,800 a year post-tax. Iâ€™m one of the lucky ones, though. For that expense I get a high standard of care and donâ€™t have to go to work worrying my child is unsafe or ignored. I donâ€™t have to choose between putting food on the table and putting my child in a questionable environment.

Things are not so good for the working poor, who also have children. When we think of daycare, we tend to imagine mommy trotting off to her office, not to McDonaldâ€™s, but work is work, and you canâ€™t take your kids with you. In a 2004 article for Womenâ€™s E-News, Jennifer Friedlin wrote,

"â€™The reality is most states are making cuts because they can't service all the kids anymore,â€™ said Bethany Little, director of government relations at the Children's Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. She estimated that over then next five years some 300,000 to 450,000 child care slots would be eliminated.â€

Regardless of where parents fall on the socioeconomic spectrum, choosing where your child will spend his or her days is a difficult one, and one for which no childbearing class will prepare you. A friend of mine told me finding good childcare was the most difficult part of parenthood, and that was true for me in the little angelâ€™s first year. We needed my salary to make ends meet, and my "choice" was between available daycare options, not whether or not to work.

Finding care for a potty-trained three-year-old is considerably easier and less expensive than finding newborn care, and older children are more resilient than babies. They can tell you about their day. With a baby, you have to drop off your bundle of joy and not know what happened all day. Itâ€™s excruciating if you donâ€™t feel comfortable with your childcare â€œchoices,â€ which are often not choices at all. I got on three daycare waiting lists when I was six weeks pregnant, and the little angelâ€™s name got called for one when she was 18 months old. Especially in cities, where licensed in-home daycare is scarce, institutional childcare waiting lists and costs can be nightmarish. Chibi writes,

â€œThe next ongoing decision we are facing is childcare. Childcare is much more difficult and complicated than I had imagined. The responsibility for this choice is weighing especially heavily.â€

Like affordable universal healthcare, I canâ€™t understand why affordable universal childcare is not available in a country so proud of its â€œfamily values.â€ Childcare providers should be paid more and rewarded financially for quality care, not just by the parents with higher tuition, but by the community at large. Getting grants should not be so difficult. Getting support from government agencies should not require so much red tape. It should not take three years for a new center to gain accreditation. We should not have to spend more on our childrenâ€™s care than our mortgages. The working poor, so encouraged to work, work, work by society, should not have to leave young children alone or in cars or in sketchy surroundings because they have nowhere appropriate for them to go while their parents are working.

BlogHer Contributing Editor Suzanne Reisman writes here about childcare as a feminist issue. It is a feminist issue. It is a womenâ€™s issue, a family issue and it should be a political issue. Working parents canâ€™t trot off to save the world in science and industry if they are worried their children might be administered the wrong medicine or put to sleep with a blanket over their heads or unattended in front of someoneâ€™s television for hours. Children wonâ€™t grow up to contribute to society if they are unsupervised and alone for hours on end. Quality daycare providers wonâ€™t stay in the game if they canâ€™t get the grants they need to stay in business and add learning tools and educational toys and nutritious food to their offerings. This is so important, and we as a nation act as if itâ€™s an unavoidable problem. Childcare is not an unavoidable problem, but the ramifications of neglecting this issue will be.

Child Care Aware
1-800-424-2246

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
1-800-424-2460

National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC)
1-801-269-9338

National Association of Regulatory Administration (NARA) (NARA)
(770)388-7771, Ext. 14