Child care system must focus on the needs of children

posted 12:45 AM 11/11
Permanent Link.

For the first time in U.S. history, half of the work force is female. This trend has accelerated during the recession, when more than three-quarters of the jobs lost have been men’s jobs.

Seventy percent of families with kids include a working mother. Nearly four in 10 mothers are primary breadwinners, bringing home the majority of the family’s earnings, and nearly two-thirds are breadwinners or co-breadwinners, and it’s no longer just for “the little extras.” Their income provides essentials like food and shelter and it has to pay for child care (Shriver, 2009).

It is clear that many of these families need child care. Nationally, 60 percent of all children younger than six are in the care of someone other than a parent. While research shows that quality matters for children’s brain development, socialization and future in school, the quality of child care is frequently inadequate.

This is because quality child care with decent salaries, well-trained teachers, enough teachers per child, and good materials and facilities is not cheap. All too often, quality care is out of the reach of parents who purchase most care.

As a result, providers are forced to offer services at prices less than what it takes to provide high quality care, especially in lower-income communities where families have limited resources.

Unfortunately, our current state child care assistance program is aimed only at low-income families. It is rife with barriers that make it difficult for parents to get and keep quality care for their children. It does not come close to covering the true cost of quality child care.

And because assistance is tied closely to hours of parental employment, job changes or temporary unemployment disrupt care arrangements and create instability for children.

Finally, the demand for child-care providers has increased sharply, but their pay has not. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the current recession has had little impact on the number of child-care workers or their pay. In fact most child-care workers earn little more than minimum wage and receive no benefits and yet they are caring for what we care about most.

It is astonishing that leaders recognize the need for quality child care, and research shows how important these early years are to our children’s development. And, yet, most families are left struggling to pay for child care. At the same time, providers end up subsidizing the system through their own low wages and standard of living.

As the only major industrialized nation without comprehensive child care and family leave policies, we need to take the words of Nelson Mandela to heart: “There is no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”

We need to ask ourselves, “What would a child care system look like that truly focused on the needs of children?”

The Department of Early Learning has embarked on the development of an Early Learning Plan for our state. A draft can be found on the Department of Early Learning Web site at www.del.wa.gov/default.aspx. There are many great ideas in that plan but they need to know that the crux of the entire issue is that in order to provide quality child care providers deserve a raise.

Annie Cubberly, executive director of the Child Care Action Council, is a member of The Olympian’s Board of Contributors. She can be reached at annie@ccacwa.org.

Comments

With costs soaring, we can't afford not to reform health care

posted 06:47 AM 09/02

I am outraged at what is happening in the debate about health care reform. Those against health care reform are employing dated, irrational, simplistic scare tactics that are outright lies designed to make people afraid and angry.

We have an obligation to build community together

posted 11:40 PM 06/23

As Americans our value of independence has been overrated.

What values are we instilling in our children?

posted 06:28 AM 04/15

When this article is published, I will be at 15,000 feet on a trek in Nepal - something I have dreamed of doing since I was 16. It took me until near 60 to get there.

Budget crisis shows need to press toward an income tax

posted 07:17 AM 02/04

Legislators have tough budget decisions ahead but if they shortchange young children now we will all pay more later.