Understanding a Big Need

For most working parents the search never ends for someone whom they trust to care for their children at a price that they can afford and at hours that suit their schedules. Because politicians have discovered child care as an issue, the entire Congress may join working parents in the search. Women are in the work force to stay. Men are just as interested in good and safe care for their children. Congress now is beginning to understand that.

By 1995 the mothers of two-thirds of all pre-school children will be working outside the home. Four out of five school-age children will have working mothers. Today one-half of all married mothers with infants younger than 1 year old are in the work force--most of necessity, not choice. Even so, the average income of two-parent families with children dropped 3.1% between 1973 and 1984.

Hospitals trying to attract and retain nursing staffs as well as some corporations either provide child-care centers or help employees find and pay for care. But the demand for help far exceeds the supply. The Children’s Defense Fund, a child-advocacy group based in Washington, points out that even hospital-based centers turn away two out of three babies whose parents apply for their services. In Des Moines, Iowa, existing programs accommodate only 12,000 of an estimated 47,000 children who need day care. In Seattle, the fund reported, licensed day-care facilities have space for only 8,800 of the 23,000 children who need it.

Corporate child-care programs have increased from 110 a decade ago to 2,500 in 1985, according to a separate study by the Council on Economic Priorities. This still is a small percentage of the 44,000 companies that have more than 100 employees.

Some states are increasing financial support for child-care subsidies, but 28 are spending less money to help low-income families than they spent in 1981. They are caught in a bind between inflation and reduction of support for the major federal child-care program, known as Title XX. With good programs in short supply, parents make do, relying on relatives or unlicensed programs.

The Alliance for Better Child Care, a coalition of about 70 organizations, is promoting the first systematic approach to the problem since Washington set up child-care programs for women drawn into the work force during World War II. Hearings on a comprehensive bill will start next month in the House Education and Labor Committee.

The bill would provide states with money to help pay day-care costs for parents with little income or those in school or training programs. Washington initially would pay 80% of costs and states the rest; states also would have to develop acceptable standards for day-care programs and hire staffs to enforce health and safety rules.

There’s also money in the bill for state grants and loans to help develop new centers, train day-care workers and expand referral services.

The child-care legislation carries a big price tag--$2.5 billion--but it is no bigger than the need. The United States mobilized its full resources in wartime when it needed women’s work outside the home. It’s time to mobilize those resources again.