Childcare Subsidy Case Study

“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.

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. They have many choices for childcare, ranging from: in-home care, childcare facilities, after school or government-funded Head Start programs. . “Head Start is a federally funded governmental program with the explicit goal of preparing underprivileged children for primary education” (Conley). This program is another option for the pre-k program. The cost of childcare has risen dramatically over the past year, and no one really knows whom to blame for it. The government offers families subsidies for childcare, but that is only if your income is low. But, what about the

Families' reliance on childcare has risen significantly over the past 30 years. In 1993, 9.9 million children under age 5, needed care while their mothers worked (Bureau of the Census, 1995). More than two-thirds of all infants receive nonparental child care during their first year of life, with most enrolled for about 30 hours each week (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 1995).

Recent studies on early childhood education have shown that children who have access to quality pre-kindergarten education tend to have higher educational attainment than those who do not have the opportunity. While the literature is by no means uniform on this, the bulk of current evidence suggests that such policies will likely be helpful, especially for students in low - income and minority school districts. Only time will tell, of course, if such programs can help to make inroads into the seemly intractable achievement gaps, but based on current evidence, it is a policy worth

Poverty remains a topic of discussion of every political debate, and the focus of many politicians and public health activists. Yet, thirty seven million Americans still live below the official poverty level.1 With a focus of work, when exploring the topic of poverty, three types can be identified: the unemployed, the working poor, and those not in the labor market (people with disabilities and retired seniors). In order to cut poverty in half, jobs need to be made available, work must pay, reduction of obstacles to work, and a need to help seniors and adults with disabilities.2 One very large and influential obstacle preventing work, is childcare. By expanding assistance and access to childcare for low-income families, we not only promote

The labor force of the United States has changed drastically over the last forty years. According to the Department of Labor, in 2012, 64% of woman with children under the age of six are in the labor force. While only 34% of mothers were working in 1970 (Gullekson, Griffeth, Vancouver, Kovner, & Cohen, 2014). Furthermore, in 1974, 80% of kids under the age 17 were cared for by a parent (Morrissey & Warne, 2011). Given this dramatic increase of mothers in the workforce, there is a considerable amount of time missed by the working parent. On average, American working parents miss nine days of work per year and that number increases to thirteen as the child moves through daycare and into elementary school. Breakdowns in childcare cost businesses three billion dollars annually (Shellenback, 2004). Given these staggering numbers the demand for reliable and affordable childcare has never been bigger.

Todays’ fast paced life style and the need for both parents to work to make ends meet seems to have created the daycare dilemma. The reality is that parenting - the most important job a woman can have - is not valued enough. No one should ever feel like she is "only a mom" – but should be more highly valued than any other profession. No job is as important; no job has the possibilities for improving our world by raising up the capacity to love and trust others. According to Canadian psychiatrist Elliott Barker, "We have to change a lot of established patterns or ways we do things - our priorities - so that nothing gets in the way of attachment in the earliest years. The capacities for trust, empathy, and affection are in fact the central core of what it means to be human, and are indispensable for adults to be able to form lasting, mutually satisfying co-operative relationships with others." Our culture belittles motherhood and encourages the mother to leave her children and go to a job. If mothers’ felt the importance of being a mother and society wasn’t pushing for them to work, many would stay at home with their children. Some evidence shows children benefit if their mothers stay home with them until they are one year, the welfare law does allow states to exempt new mothers from work requirements for a year. So far, states do not seem to be taking advantage of the provision set apart for this program. In Wisconsin, a leader in welfare reform, mothers are required to start looking for work when their child is 12 weeks old. Those in favor of these reforms say a mother who has a job will be a more responsible parent, and some studies suggest that children do benefit if their mother receives earned income rather than a government check for the same amount. If mothers are out working, however, the quality of child care provided by others will largely determine how the children fare under the states' new plans. Many mothers will rely on relatives and friends, some will be loving and attentive and some will not. Also, the strain on the daycare system is a matter of serious concern to child-development and childcare experts. A recent study found that 40% of daycare centers for infants and toddlers gave less than

The child care and early education subsidies helps low-income families with childcare so they can afford to put the children in child care or head start so the parent or parents can work and provide for their families. The state and federal government spent about 18 billion dollars in the fiscal year of 1999 on subsidiaries. There were several programs converted into a single block grant due to being a part of the welfare reform of 1996, however, most programs remain separate. The goal for the childcare subsidies is to help families so they can work first instead of depending on welfare assistance. The government thinks it will help improve the children outcome for the low-income families. There are four reasons the economic analysis of

From the statistics shown above, early child care closes the gap between lower and upper social classes. Having an earlier education can address the inequality of socioeconomic statuses. Prior to this trend, there was a huge discrepancy between the lower and higher income families. The parents in the lower income families evidently had less time or were less competent tending to their child’s basic cognitive skills, especially if they had to work or had only received a limited amount of schooling. As academic opportunities became more accessible to

Since children of poverty have parents working unstable or jobs that give very low-income, there are many ways that we as a society can help reduce these hardships for those in these difficult situations. With the increasing costs and lack of affordable child care, it makes it harder for the parents to be able to provide for themselves and their family as they have limited availability for days and times they are able to work as well as take care of their children. With these facts in mind, I reach out to my fellow peers to take action and take part in my petition for child care companies to have special price packages available to make daycare affordable for families who have very low incomes.

The high costs of childcare restrict many families and the increased support can make a big difference in the ability of parents to work. Increase childcare funding will offer single parents the ability to work, while also helping two parent families to actually have two parents work and help them rise from the low-income bracket. The New Hope Project looked at the outcomes of families receiving a multiple work support benefits. This study found that, based on an eight-year follow-up, positive results for employment and income and positive long-term results for children and adolescents (Mills, Compton, & Golden, 2011). The cost of childcare is an aspect that should be addressed because improving the cost will make an impact on many families across the

Our group members were all unanimous in agreeing that lack of affordable daycare hurts Canadian families and the economy. However, we all had differing views on the Universal Child Care Benefit, which was increased to $160 from $100 for under six-year olds (just in time for election). It is imperative to remember that a good portion of this benefit will be taxed back during

Studies have shown that people who pay less for childcare, most likely don’t get good service for the sole purpose that “you get what you paid for”.

The bivariate results show that each of the aggregated childcare use variables have positive significant relationships with PQECEC. On average, the less difficult the cost, availability, access and quality, the more positive users’ PQECEC. The four multivariate analyses also show that a significant positive effect of welfare state defamilization indicators become non-significant while aggregated childcare use variables are still highly significant and positive, supporting our previous

Much like the evaluators of Head Start, Vanderbilt University’s Peabody Research Institute found little evidence that VPK provided the benefits that proponents of publicly funded preschool programs profess. The study measured more than 1000 four year olds on free and reduced lunch. Beneficiaries of VPK showed relative cognitive gains of 45%, on average, compared to non-beneficiaries after upon entering kindergarten (M.W. Lipsey et. al, 2013, 11). But, these gains faded over time. In fact, by first grade there was no statistically significant difference between participants and nonparticipants