THE CORONAVIRUS CHILD CARE CALAMITY
Let’s be blunt. America’s response to the coronavirus has been inadequate. We know about the soaring rates of infection, the rising death toll, and job losses on a scale not seen since the Great Depression. But below the radar are festering problems that must be addressed, or the hardships Americans face will only intensify in the coming months.
A recent Huffington Post article should send shivers up the spines of parents with young children or those contemplating having children soon. The title says it all: “The Child Care Industry Is About To Collapse. There’s No Bailout Coming.” This passage in the article summarizes the predicament:
Parents around the country are wondering when it will be safe to send their kids back to day care, but soon they might not even have the choice. Many child care centers, even the ones that are open now, may not be around much longer.
According to one estimate, half of licensed operators won’t make it through the pandemic; another survey found that only 11% of child care providers believe they can survive indefinitely without help.
And help is not where it should be, say advocates and child care providers. They were pushing for at least a $50 billion bailout from Congress, something that close to 30 Democratic senators support. But the stimulus bill House Democrats unveiled this week includes far less than that: $7 billion in block grants to states to use on child care.
The federal government has spent trillions of dollars to help Americans survive this unprecedented health care and economic calamity. It is inevitable they will spend more, but without robust funding of child care centers many parents could left scrambling. The unappealing choices they might be facing include:
- Finding a child care center that is not conveniently located.
- Paying more money for child care than they can afford.
- Going to a child center that doesn’t meet the standards they are looking for.
- Convincing a relative or friend to take care of their children.
- Either quitting their job or working less hours.
Even before the coronavirus came to America, we were failing to fully fund child care. As the National Children’s Campaign points out in its education section:
The greatest time of brain development is the earliest years of a child’s life. Early quality education can make all the difference and proven research shows it builds a foundation for better life outcomes of health, education and income. Unfortunately, 3.8 million children under five are living in poverty with the odds stacked against them and have limited access to high quality affordable early education or childcare and live in stressful environments.
Rebecca Ullrich, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Law And Policy, understands the unfortunate factors that have contributed to the federal government’s unwillingness to allocate the proper amount of resources for child care. She doesn’t mince words when she says, “There is this historic, long-standing underfunding that is a byproduct of sexism, a byproduct of racism. And now we are having to convince people that not only it was never enough but now we need so much more, and we need it fast.”
Child care centers must not only survive the coronavirus, but also get the money to finally thrive. We can’t keep talking about children being our future and then not invest in them. Congress needs to do the right thing before it is too late.