Womenstake

Tell Your Senators to Improve the Child and Adult Care Food Program

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

Last week, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced legislation that would improve young children’s access to nutritious meals in child care centers, family child care homes, and Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

With your help, we can gain support for the Access to Nutritious Meals for Young Children Act of 2009 (S. 2749).

Please urge your Senators to improve the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

The bill, which would strengthen the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), calls for:

·Increasing reimbursement rates for child care centers and family child care homes.

·Adding a third meal or snack option for children in child care, helping to cover the costs of food for children who are in care for longer hours.

·Expanding CACFP family child care home area eligibility, to make more family child care providers eligible for higher levels of reimbursement.

·Increasing the administrative reimbursement rate for CACFP-sponsoring organizations.

·Streamlining and simplifying program and paperwork requirements for states, sponsoring organizations, child care providers, and parents.

We need your help to gain support for this bill so that we can reach even more children.

PA Budget Stalemate Takes Toll On Child Care, But Cuts Averted

Rio Romero, Program Assistant,
National Women's Law Center

Across the country, families needing child care are feeling the crunch as states’ budgets tighten, resulting in less availability and affordability of child care—an essential support in today’s economy. A 101-day budget standoff in Pennsylvania took a heavy toll on several social services, including child care providers and the families who rely on their services. Families and providers were able to breathe a slight sign of relief when the statemate was finally resolved, with child care funding largely protected. 

Between July 1 and October 9, as the budget impasse continued, Pennsylvania simply stopped providing payments for child care subsidies. Without state funds, some Child Care Information State (CCIS) agencies distributing subsidies had to secure lines of credit or dip into their reserves in order to help pay providers. Child care centers, as one provider put it, “limped along” as some programs—which already have fragile finances—were forced to close operations, turned away families needing care, or took out loans to pay personnel and extra expenses. A survey conducted in August further examining the impact of the budget crisis found that of the providers surveyed, nearly one-third had shut down their program, 12,176 children had lost child care, and 3,604 child care staff had been laid off statewide. In addition, some child care employees earning college credit and working to attain a higher education degree were unable to register for fall classes—setting their education plans off-course. 

Just how long exactly does 101 days feel to low-income parents working to provide for their family or attending school, only to find out that their child’s center will no longer be offering services, or that the center in which they want to enroll their child cannot accept any new students? As a former teacher’s aide at a child care center, I was able to see the joy and relief of parents—including my best friend, a twenty year-old nursing student at the time and a single mother—who were finally able to enroll their child into the program after a long wait-list or search. There was no hesitance, as I asked my best friend what would have happened without child care for her daughter. “It would have been added stress on top of everything else. It would have left me no choice but to have dropped out of college.”

The Cost of Care

by Amy Quinn, Senior Policy Analyst, 
National Women's Law Center 

In sixty percent of all poor married-couple families with children, the mother is home full time, year round caring for a family member, according to data released yesterday by the Census. The statistic highlights the need for affordable child care, which would facilitate mothers’ contributions to family income and poverty reduction. Yet many families find that the cost of child care is out of reach, and cannot find assistance in affording the cost.

The challenges that families face paying for child care in the U.S. were spotlighted in a report released by the National Women’s Law Center last month.  The Center’s analysis revealed that families with incomes above 200 percent of the poverty level ($36,620 a year for a family of three) are ineligible for child care assistance in thirty-nine states. This threshold is out of touch with the reality that family income must reach at least this level before families can afford child care without sacrificing other basic needs.  In addition, qualifying for child care assistance is no guarantee of receipt, as nineteen states had waiting lists in 2009. For those families that receive child care assistance, many pay a substantial amount in copayments, or are unable to access high quality care. For example, families at 150 percent of the poverty level are required to pay more than 7 percent of their income in copayments in over two-thirds of states where they are eligible for assistance. In addition, 17 states do not reimburse higher quality care at higher rates.

When women do find the child care they need to return to work, they face a workplace where full-time, year-round female workers earn only 77 percent what is earned by their male counterparts. Such lower wages contribute to women’s difficulty finding work that is paid well enough to cover child care costs.

U.S. policy does not help mothers return to the workforce with affordable child care and equal pay and it doesn’t help women afford to stay home to care for their families, either. The U.S. is the only industrialized country with no paid family leave policy. In contrast, six European countries offer maternity leave of at least one year at 50 percent pay. With women now comprising nearly 50 percent of the workforce – 49.8 percent, according to today’s data – it is time that U.S. policy support women’s contributions as both breadwinners and caregivers by ensuring affordable child care, equal pay, and flexible workplaces.

Texas Children Lose Out on High-Quality Child Care Because of Limited Funding

by Rio Romero, Program Assistant, 
National Women's Law Center 

As the Center released its annual state child care assistance report earlier this week, highlighting the struggles states face in helping families gain access to affordable and good-quality child care, I learned the same day about the closing of a child care center in El Paso, Texas. After fifty years, El Paso Children’s Day Care, a center accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children — a gold standard in child care quality — will be closing its doors this Friday, leaving its ninety children and their families in search for another source of care in a community where care, especially of high-quality, was already scarce.

Before I joined the Center, I worked for two years as a state advocate for early childhood education issues with the Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition. So the news hit close to home, as I reflected back on the many parents, child care providers, and children I met along my Texas travels. The moments that stood out to me were the times I had the opportunity to visit with early childhood programs in cities and rural communities that were serving families that needed support the most. What made these opportunities to connect with local child care programs so striking was the chance to see the difference high-quality early care and learning made in the lives of Texas families. And then I thought about my two-year-old nephew in El Paso and our family, who will have one less option for high-quality child care.

The director of the El Paso child care center attributed the decision to close the center to a lack of funds — specifically related to inadequate reimbursement rates for providers serving children from the child care assistance program. Texas lags behind many states in reimbursement rates, with nearly all of its local workforce boards, which set policies within federal and state guidelines, reimbursing providers substantially below the federally recommended level. Low reimbursement rates leave providers without sufficient resources to pay adequate wages to their staff, purchase toys and materials, or afford other expenses necessary to sustain their programs.

Unless more investments in child care are made, providers will continue to be forced to decide whether to continue providing good-quality care or close shop, parents already tightening their budgets will carry an added burden of searching for another program or settling for poor care, and children’s learning and development will hang in limbo.

More Backward Than Forward on Child Care

by Karen Schulman, Senior Policy Analyst,
and Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy, 
National Women's Law Center  

A new study by the National Women’s Law Center of policies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia reveals that between February of 2008 and February of 2009 more states made cuts than made improvements in their child care assistance programs. This is troubling news for the many low-income families who need help affording reliable child care that allows parents to work and gives children opportunities to learn — particularly since it follows years of stagnation in child care assistance policies and funding.

The study examines four key policy areas — income eligibility limits for child care assistance, waiting lists for assistance, reimbursement rates for child care providers serving families receiving assistance, and copayments required of parents receiving assistance. A majority of states did not make changes in these areas between February 2008 and February 2009. However, of those states that did make changes, more moved backward than forward.

In 2009, a family with an income above 200 percent of poverty ($36,620 a year for a family of three in 2009) could not qualify for assistance in over three-quarters of the states — even though a family at this income level could barely afford to meet its basic needs in the majority of communities across the country.

In many states, families cannot always receive help even if they meet the eligibility criteria. In 2009, nineteen states had waiting lists for child care assistance or turned families away without even adding their names to the waiting list.

Senator Kennedy's Passion for Making It Right for Children

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

Ted Kennedy touched all of our hearts when he led the audience of children, legislators, and advocates in singing the Eensy Weensy Spider at the ceremony held in the House of Representatives to mark the passage of the 2007 Head Start reauthorization.

His passion for making it right for children and families led to a continuous improvement and expansion of the Head Start program, the creation of Early Head Start, the enactment of the first comprehensive child care legislation, health care for children, and the Ryan White Act.  His commitment and engaging personality won over colleagues including those from across the aisle – most notably Senator Hatch to co-champion many of his efforts on behalf of children.

Senator Kennedy built bridges with his colleagues, advocates, and the children and families he so deeply cared about. It won’t be the same and it won’t be as much fun as he made working for children.

Take Action: Support the Early Learning Challenge Fund

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

Parents and advocates know that getting kids ready for college starts with early learning. That's why the Early Learning Challenge Fund is such a key component of the higher education legislation — the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act that the House will soon consider.

To make sure our young learners get access to the high-quality early learning programs they depend on, your support is needed. Let Congress know that the Early Learning Challenge Fund is crucial to young learners’ future success.

The new Early Learning Challenge Fund would provide competitive grants to challenge states to build comprehensive, high-quality early learning systems for children up to age five.

We’re sending messages of support from early childhood advocates across the country.

• Please act now to send your individual message of support.
• If you represent an organization, please join this group sign-on letter in support of the bill.

The House Education and Labor Committee has approved the bill and it will go before the full House for a vote after it returns in September. Take action today!

For detailed information on the Early Learning Challenge Fund, check out NWLC's summary.

A Challenge to States: Building Strong Early Learning Systems

by Karen Schulman, Senior Policy Analyst,
and Amalia Reiss, Intern,
National Women’s Law Center 

The President and Congress are demonstrating their commitment to early care and education by issuing an important challenge to states: Develop strong, high-quality early learning systems that help ensure children enter school ready to succeed. States that accept the challenge will receive new resources and support to meet this goal, which is essential for our children and our nation. 

An Early Learning Challenge Fund, first discussed by President Obama during the campaign and included in his budget proposal earlier in the year, has now been fleshed out in legislation introduced by Representative George Miller (D-CA) on July 15. The Early Learning Challenge Fund, which is proposed as part of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3221), would provide $1 billion a year over 10 years to states that agree to work toward a comprehensive strategy for improving the quality of their early learning programs, particularly those serving disadvantaged children.

The initiative would make two types of grants available to states: Quality Pathways Grants for states that already have made significant progress toward establishing systems for improving the quality of early learning settings and that can serve as models for other states, and Development Grants for states that have some elements of a strategy to promote early learning but need an extra boost to achieve a truly systemic approach. States would be able to use the grants for several key components of a high-quality early learning system, including initiatives to boost the education and compensation of the early learning workforce, a system for rating the quality of early learning programs and helping them achieve progressively higher levels of quality, parent outreach and engagement, and coordination with other services for children and families—many of the same key components addressed in the Center’s Child Care Agenda.  

Register Today: Call on Supporting Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care

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

Every day, millions of working parents rely on home-based child care arrangements, including family child care and care by family, friends, and neighbors, for their children. Given the essential role family child care and FFN care plays for so many families, it is important to understand the role that unions are playing to support these providers and the lessons they have learned.

The National Women's Law Center has scheduled the second in our series of calls that will examine child care unionization and other strategies for improving compensation, benefits, and working conditions for family child care and FFN providers and enhancing the quality of care they offer.

Register today for our second call, Lessons Learned: Supporting Family, Friend and Neighbor Care & Family Child Care in Washington State.

The conference call will take place on Thursday, June 18, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

Presenters for this call will include:

• Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy, National Women's Law Center
• Karen Hart, Early Learning Division Director, SEIU Local 925
• Nancy Ashley, Owner, Heliotrope Consulting Firm

If you missed the first call in our series, "Lessons Learned: Supporting Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care & Family Child Care in Oregon Through Unionization," you can download our audio recording or transcript.

We hope that you will join us for this call!

New Resource: NWLC Child Care Website

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

Last year, we released Developing America's Potential: An Agenda for Affordable, High-Quality, Child Care, a "blueprint" for the future of child care. Since then, several bills reflecting parts of the Agenda have been introduced in this Congress. We are happy to announce a new website to better help advocates continue to move forward on the systemic reforms found in the Agenda. 

Check out NWLC's new website based on the agenda.

The website is a one-stop shop for information on the Agenda, including ways you can get involved with our efforts. As you check out the website, you will see that our featured immediate action focuses on the appropriations process.

It's important that we work together and urge our Members of Congress to support a $1 billion increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and a $1 billion increase for Head Start in the FY 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. This would be an important step toward the long-term goals contained in the Agenda. While these programs received additional emergency funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, these funds do not compensate for the longstanding funding shortfalls in these vital programs.

Take action today by sending a message to your members of Congress.