Options to Address the Quiet Crisis in American Families

State Initiatives Focus on Child Care Affordability and Quality

American families are facing a crisis in child care: a critical shortage of good, affordable child care options in communities across the country. Yet, the need for child care has never been greater. Today, two-thirds of all women in the workforce are mothers, doubling their presence since 1960. Nearly two-thirds of mothers with children under six and almost 60 percent of mothers with children under 12 months are working.

Securing affordable child care is an everyday struggle for millions of American families. One in three families with young children earns less than $25,000, while full-time day care costs $4,000 to $10,000 annually per child.

States can help low-income families obtain child care subsidies, but according to recent data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, states are only serving about 12 percent of eligible children in low-income families.

Making child care affordable is only half the battle. Families need access to high quality care that nurtures early child development, which is critical to children’s success in school and later in life. Children in poor child care situations are slower to read, diminished in language and number skills, and display more aggression towards adults and children.

The key ingredient to quality child care is the caregiver. Yet, most caregivers are underpaid and receive little professional training. Childcare workers receive, on average, less than $7 per hour. Low wages and benefits, and a lack of career mobility, contribute to high turnover and a lower quality of care.

Parents in working families need help balancing their work and family responsibilities and affordable, quality child care is critical to maintaining that balance. Several states are now moving innovative policies to provide the critical care families need.

State Child Care Initiatives States are increasingly taking action to bolster the availability, affordability and quality of child care. Wage Supplements or Retention Grants. These programs reward teachers and providers based on their level of education and years of tenure. States with such programs include: California – CARES program; Montana – Provider Merit Pay Awards; North Carolina – WAGE$ Project; and Wisconsin – Quality Improvement Grants Program. Public-Private Partnerships. These programs foster local input and investment in the economic and social development of communities. Washington state allocated $4 million for a pilot project establishing "The Early Childhood Education and Career Development Ladder" for early childhood teachers. The ladder incorporates wage increments based on experience, responsibility and education. North Carolina established the "Smart Start Initiative" that provides funding and technical assistance to county-level public-private partnerships for design and implementation of programs based on their community’s needs. Smart Start has produced more affordable and high-quality care, increasing the number of child care spaces in North Carolina by more than 40,000 since 1993. State Funding for Quality Care Improvements: Maine recently doubled its state investment for child care. It offers grants, an ongoing revolving loan fund and tuition assistance for childcare providers, as well as tax credits to businesses that assist with childcare expenses or offer on-site care. North Carolina also focuses on recruitment and retention of child care providers by offering thousands of scholarships to providers for professional training and development through its T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Project. Linking Money, Accreditation and Child Care Quality. A number of states offer financial incentives — such as offering higher reimbursement rates to providers who are accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children— to encourage child care centers and family child care homes to improve the quality of their care.

For resources on quality child care refer to: The Center for the Child Care Workforce at http://www.ccw.org. CPA’s policy brief, SMART START: Public-Private Partnerships for Quality Child Care, a PDF file available here. For state-by-state data on child care refer to The Urban Institute’s Assessing the New Federalism project at http://www.urbaninstitute.org.