Child Care Challenges

This sort of rhetoric cannot possibly encompass every family that needs help paying for child care. Not every person seeking help for child care is single. Sometimes it maybe two parents working low paying jobs. Low income workers average $8.24 and with living wages in the D.C. area being $24.92 leaving double-earners, falling short of the living wage by 34% (Caplinger D.,2013). The disparity in pay is clearly a reason why some families choose to keep one parent home in combination to child care

“14.2 million children under age 13 met federal requirements for child-care subsidies in 2011-2012. Of that number, 8.6 million were eligible under state policies. Yet only 1.5 million children actually received the subsidies. That means only 10.6 percent of the number of children meeting federal guidelines actually get the subsidy” (Davidson 2017). The question that will be answered throughout this paper is, how accessible is childcare in the United States? Child care is the care of children by a day-care center, babysitter, or other provider while parent/ parents/ or legal guardian is working. The median household income for the United States is $53,8895 (Census Bureau) and the average cost of childcare is between $10,000 and $16,000 (Hamm 2015). This means that childcare can cost families making the median income 30% of their annual income. Given that this is the median household income, half of households have an income that is below this costing them more than 30% of their income. The United States has excellent child care that is affordable for some, however, most low-income families are unable to afford it.

In fact, recent studies have shown that the cost of daycare in some states has exceeded the average tuition and fees of a public college. The cost per week per child is at its all-time high for childcare and that it is making it hard for parents. Paying $100-$350 a week for childcare sounds outrageous. The cost of having an infant child in most states is higher than having a 6 year old. Most childcare facilities charge families by the kids’ ages, the younger the child, the higher the cost. Honestly, daycare facilities are making a killing because people are having babies that need care, but they have to go back to work to support their family.

55% of American mothers now return to work by the time their children are one years old -- out of either financial, professional, or personal necessity. In today’s society, there are concerns as to whether attending daycare during infancy produces negative or positive effects on the development of children. Many of these concerns are influenced by the fear that separating an infant from its mother may cause emotional harm to the child or disrupt the mother-infant bond. No study finds that children of employed mothers suffer solely because their mothers are working. Research has shown that mothers who work spend as much time playing with their babies as do mothers without outside jobs (Huston &

Over the past five to six decades women have been entering the workforce in ever increasing numbers. Some enter because of financial need and others for professional and career goals. Whatever the reason, the result for the children is the same; they are in daycare. Many

Childcare or “daycare” is one of the most commonly used resources among Americans in the United States. There are many options for childcare that parents could choose from. The cost of childcare has risen dramatically over the past year, and no one really knows who to blame for it. The average cost for one child in a childcare facility ranges from $100-$350 a week. The government offers families subsidies for childcare, but that’s only if your income is low. What about the hard working middle class families that are still struggling to pay the high cost of childcare? How will they provide childcare for their kids?

The costs of this expansion will mostly go toward labor, as labor is the single largest component of costs for early infant and toddler care centers (Marshall et al., 2004). For teachers to stay invested in the children they teach and care for, they must be fairly compensated to maintain the high quality of care. According to a study in Massachusetts, 72 percent of typical full-time, full-year center expenditures go toward labor (Marshall, et al., 2004). In dollar amounts, “average expenditures per child care hour were $4.42 for centers serving infants and $4.28 for centers serving toddlers. These correspond to full-time care expenditures of $10,343 and $10,015 for the two groups of centers [infants and toddlers, respectively]”

Parent will pay a total of $200 a week for daycare. According to the National Association of Child Care Resources & Referral Agencies the average daycare cost is the United States is $972 a month. Employees will pay a lower cost than the national average.

Parents across the country are patiently awaiting the first year of freedom, also known as, Kindergarten. In the years leading up to a child’s elementary debut, parents often find themselves paying half their annual salary just so they can get back into the workforce. Why is it that the cost of childcare is so expensive? Most facilities only provide a child with enough shelter to be safe and enough food to curb a growing appetite yet daycare costs can match if not, exceed the monthly costs of living. American adults, who choose to raise families, make the ultimate sacrifice in leaving their small children with strangers just to earn a living so why can’t their employers cover the added expense?

Adolescents aging out of the foster care system face many challenges. Most youth who have reached legal adulthood have been taught essential life skills and have a safety net of family and community support systems (Paul-Ward & Lambdin-Pattavina, 2016). Foster children often age out of the system with little or no social network and lacking the skills to acquire basic necessities such as employment, housing or healthcare. The absence of these two important fundamental needs increases the likelihood of perpetuating a generational cycle of poverty, abuse/neglect, criminality and substance abuse.

Youth aging out of foster care are one of the most disadvantaged populations in the United States. Unlike other young people in the general population who continue to live with family and receive support and financial assistance, foster youth transitioning into adulthood often struggle just to obtain and maintain general needs. Apart from the trauma associated with the history of abuse or neglect, foster youth are put in a circumstance that expect them to become independent and self-sufficient immediately as they prepare to transition out of foster care. According to Courtney, Dworsky, Lee, and Raap, young people formerly in foster care, compared to the general population, experience significantly different outcomes in areas of education, employment,

While there are some caregiver’s that are only in the human service field to earn a paycheck and with the lack of parental involvement in their child’s life, it can make a caregiver’s job more challenging. Daycare centers serve as a stepping stone for a child’s future that will teach them how to establish appropriate skills and aid in the development of their cognitive abilities. Positive child interactions not only aid in the development of social and cognitive development, but also in the child’s self-esteem and it lets them know they are important and loved.

Diapers, bottles, and milk are only a few of the things needed for babies. The list of things children need grows with them. With the decrease of the inflation rate this is great, expect this doesn’t apply with having kids. They average estimated amount spending on one child is 13,248. Raising children in the east is more expensive averaging $14,310, while it is cheaper in the west coming at $12,171. “The institute determined that in America, a two-parent, two-child family needs to earn $63,741 a year "to secure an adequate but modest living standard." Not only can supplies and necessities add up, but the area where you raise your children could bump up the prices even more. The top five places to raise children are Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut,

I did not like some of the rules that had to be followed that the different child care centers set. I did not like the feeling that I was raising somebody else’s child. I did not like observing that some of the children were not being taken care of properly. I did not like how poorly I was paid for my time and energy I was putting into taking care of other people’s children. I did not like getting sick all the time. In the matter of one year when I was 19-20 years old I had caught pink eye 5 times, stomach flu, and several colds and coughs. I felt like I was always sick. All these reason that I have listed were the basis of me ending my career as a child care

According to the Department for Education and Skills and Department for works and Pensions, (2002), They argue that ‘ Childcare can make a significant impact to children, parents, and communities, helping to tackle child poverty, improve children’s achievements at school, enable parents to choose to work as a route out of poverty. In other word, the government strongly believes that high quality childcare provision will enable children to excel in schools, helping them to improve in their education and helping poor families with children improve their standard of living by getting them back into paid employment as well as training.