Navigating childcare in America has never been easy but the last few years have seen parents who rely on it buckle under the weight of a shattered care system where costs continue to climb and care options continue to disappear. What is it going to take for meaningful change from our leaders? The pandemic didn’t do it despite overwhelming evidence that without childcare, parents can’t work. Going over the childcare cliff didn’t do it even though we’d already seen what happens when daycares close and parents are without options. So what is it going to take?
The answer may surprise you. Real change will likely only come when parents use their collective voice to tell Congress they want a plan and they want it now. A recent article from The 19th News sought out every member of Congress to record their view on childcare. The article confirmed that there is bipartisan support for addressing the childcare crisis and several ideas on the table, but without a sense of true urgency, nothing has happened.
2024 is an election year, a time when we have the opportunity to tell those who lead us – and those who hope to – exactly what is important to us and exactly what we expect from them. When it comes to childcare, we have to stop tackling the problem on our own and instead, unite with one voice to make sure our elected officials understand that there is a sense of true urgency. We must ensure they understand that childcare isn’t just a personal issue, but a business and economic issue that keeps parents, especially mothers, from remaining in the workforce. It impacts GDP growth. It impacts our competitiveness as a nation. Every member of Congress has constituencies unique to their home state but there is one constituency that crosses every state line: parents. This means our Congressional representatives cannot ignore a grass roots, vocal coalition of parents across the country demanding that our childcare system be fixed now.
We at Care will continue to advocate at the Federal and state levels for the kind of change we know is needed, and throughout the coming year, we will do our best to educate you on where candidates stand and make it easy for your voice to be heard. Until then, we encourage all parents to read the article and learn exactly what their representative’s stance is on childcare.
Parents, you’ve done enough on your own. It’s time to band together and make the powers that be listen. Let’s raise our collective voice.
