Advertisement

‘Crossroads for Child Care’

Share

As The Times continues its assessment of our nation’s child-care crisis (“Crossroads for Child Care,” editorial, March 27), further analysis needs to be conducted regarding the true cost of “quality” child care and who can afford it. The Times identified $75 per week as an average urban rate for child care in a provider’s home. The Times doesn’t clarify that such a fee is inadequate to pay for quality center-based programs, some of which may be those church-related programs mentioned later in the editorial where hundreds of thousands of children are cared for daily.

The current debate on child care fails to adequately address what constitutes quality care, what such care costs and the effort that will be required to fund it. For many years now, research has demonstrated that quality programs require adequately compensated educated staff, small group sizes of children, and ratios of teachers to children that are generally better than the minimums currently mandated by the state of California.

In Southern California providers and consumers of quality center-based programs recognize that the cost is closer to $150 per week for infants and $90 per week for 3 and 4 year olds. The fact is that parents from all but the highest income levels require financial assistance in obtaining care for their children that is truly beneficial rather than custodial, or at worse, damaging.

Advertisement

The magnitude of such costs seems to discourage a more careful examination of what we mean by “quality child care,” but such an examination is precisely what is required if we are truly committed to establishing quality care for children. Excellent guidelines for quality have been established by the National Assn. for the Education of Young Children. Numerous groups have proposed strategies for funding such quality. What is clear is that all sectors of our society will have to make a commitment and work together cooperatively if our children are to have what many of us older Americans took for granted--an enriching, safe, and most important, happy childhood.

ERIC NELSON

Director

JPL Child Educational Center

La Canada

Advertisement