Children and Families Need the Starting Early Starting Right Act

by Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy
National Women’s Law Center

Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) wants to give an important gift to America’s mothers as Mother’s Day approaches. In these tough economic times, recognizing that affordable high-quality child care is a basic that helps children develop the skills they need to be ready for school and helps families get ahead by giving parents the peace of mind they need to be productive at work, he introduced the Starting Early Starting Right Act.

The bill is mindful of that fact that high-quality child care is often unavailable to low-income children and their families. Senator Casey’s bill addresses this problem by increasing funding so states can provide more high-quality child care opportunities for low-income families and help the hundreds of thousands of children across the country on waiting lists for child care assistance.

This is a bill that also understands that families with our youngest children—infants and toddlers—need the most attention given the difficulties with finding care as well as the clear research about the importance of  children’s earliest years. The Starting Early Starting Right Act supports infants and toddlers by requiring states to set aside 30 percent of the bill’s total funding for this underserved group of children.

Child care develops America’s potential by helping children, families, and communities prosper. However, even though child care is immensely important, federal funding for child care assistance has been virtually flat-funded for seven years. Senator Casey’s bill, which helps our nation stay competitive by encouraging children to do well in school and supporting working parents, is right on target.

For more information about Senator Casey’s Starting Early Starting Right Act please see the National Women’s Law Center’s summary at http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/CaseyBillSummary.pdf.