For Immediate Release: December 2, 2016
Let’s take steps to ensure that families have meaningful access to high-quality, affordable child care and recognize the child care is a vital component of the nation’s infrastructure. Children in child care learn and develop skills they need to succeed in school and in life. Child care helps families get ahead by giving parents the support and peace of mind they need to be productive at work. And ensuring access to child care helps our nation stay competitive, by producing a stronger workforce now and in the future. When America supports child care, we encourage children, families and our nation to reach their full potential. But for many families—especially, but not only, low-income families—high-quality child care is unaffordable or unavailable. Yet, child care providers receive unacceptably low wages. Nearly half of child care workers in 2015 were part of families enrolled in at least one of our public support programs.
Solutions:
– Let’s make sure that no family pay more than 10 percent of their income for high quality child care and the child care workforce receives raises to at least a living wage to better reflect their experience and credentials.
– Expand families’ access to affordable, high-quality child care
– Strengthen the quality of child care by investing in the child care workforce
– Make high-quality prekindergarten available to all four-year-olds
– Provide greater access to nutritious meals and snacks to children and families.