TKW Consulting

The Child Care Crisis
The government works hard to make sure that our food, highways, and air travel are safe -- so how come it ignores the well-being of 12 million children?
By Diane Debrovner

In the sunny, cheerful room, eight 2-year-olds are playing happily. Three are scooping suds at the water table, three are cutting clay into shapes, and two are giggling as they ride toy fire trucks. Kids' artwork covers the walls, and well-stocked shelves display blocks, cars, puppets, books, and the latest educational toys. The three caregivers, who've had rigorous child-development training, know every child's unique habits and needs -- after all, they have been caring for these kids since they were 6 weeks old and will continue to care for them until they go to kindergarten.

This isn't an exclusive on-site day-care center at a Fortune 500 company or in a tony New York suburb. This is McGuire Air Force Base, in Wrightstown, New Jersey. Here, members of the military can take advantage of high-quality child care that's subsidized by the federal government. In fact, few parents realize that the Military Child Development System provides care for more than 200,000 kids in more than 900 centers and 9,000 family child-care homes around the world. Each one has strict program and curriculum standards and quality control. Caregivers are well-compensated, and they are paid more as they complete more training and demonstrate competence. The care is reasonably priced too: Parents pay a sliding-scale fee, based on their income, ranging from one third to two thirds of the actual cost.

The total government price tag for this top-notch program is about $372 million per year -- not cheap, certainly, but approximately the cost of one high-tech transport plane (the Air Force has 160). With fathers and mothers in the armed forces, good child care is crucial. "Without it, soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen couldn't go to work and be assured that their children were well taken care of," explains Jan Witte, director of the U.S. Military Children and Youth Office. "The military system is subsidized because we believe this is a workforce issue, and quality care costs more than most parents can afford." However, all working parents in this country need affordable child care. We all want to leave our children in loving, capable hands. We'd all like our kids to be in an environment where their development can flourish. But for too many families, this is simply not possible.

A High Price to Pay
About 65 percent of women with children under age 6 are in the workforce, and full-day child care costs approximately $4,000 to $10,000 a year -- at least as much as college tuition at a public university. More than a quarter of families with young children earn less than $25,000 a year, but even for middle-class families, quality care is often beyond their means. Many families can only afford unlicensed family day care, or one parent has to stay home. "Everyone wants the best care for their children, but the cost is
outrageous," says Kathleen Coles, a mother of three in San Diego who works full-time.

"We don't have family around to help out, and a big chunk of our income goes to child care."

"Research has shown that children can and do thrive in child care as long as they experience sensitive and responsive caregiving," says Parents adviser Kathleen McCartney, Ph.D., a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education and a researcher in a long-term study of child care by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Sadly, however, most early child care in this country is mediocre.

According to the NICHD study, 12 percent of all types of early child care is high quality, 32 percent is good, 50 percent is fair, and 6 percent is poor.

Amazingly, there are no national standards. Each state is responsible for mandating staff-to-child ratios and other requirements -- and they vary widely. For instance, the National Association for the Education of Young Children recommends a minimum ratio of 1:6 for 2-year-olds, but Idaho and Mississippi allow 1:12. Nine states don't require criminal background checks, and many states exempt some centers in religious institutions, half-day nursery schools, and small family day-care homes from all licensing standards.

Although research has shown that better-educated teachers have more positive, nurturing relationships with children and provide richer language and learning experiences, most states require that child-care and preschool teachers have only a high-school diploma. The woman who gives you a manicure may need 300 hours of training before she can get a state license, and a masseuse may need 1,000 hours of training. However, 32 states require absolutely no child-development training whatsoever for child-care providers.

A major part of the problem is that child-care workers are among the lowest paid in America. In 2001, their average salary was $8.16 an hour, or $16,980 per year -- less than crossing guards and pet-sitters -- and few receive health benefits. As a result, people who would enjoy working with young children don't go into the field because they can't earn a living. A caregiver who gets her college degree can double her salary by becoming a K-12 teacher. A third of caregivers leave their jobs each year -- which is difficult for the children who have become attached to them. "My daughter was in a facility that was supposed to be a â¬Ülearning center,' but the teacher turnover was so high that the kids didn't learn much of anything," says single mom Dawn Smith, of Orlando, Florida, who racked up $6,000 in credit-card debt last year paying for day care.

"When I wanted to put my daughter in a private pre-K, I was told that she was so far
behind that I should hold her back a year."

"The child-care market is broken," Dr. McCartney insists. "Parents can't afford to pay more, and caregivers can't afford to earn less. The government needs to get involved." Until now, the federal government's child-care funding has focused specifically on low-income families; however, there has been enough funding only for 15 percent of eligible families to receive subsidies from the Child Care and Development Fund and for 50 percent of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds to participate in Head Start. (At press time, Congress was still debating funding cuts for Head Start and whether control of the program should be given to states. Major cuts in after-school programs have also been proposed by the administration.) Child-care tax credits for middle-income families cover only a small portion of the cost.