Survey Sees Child-Care Crisis Brewing in U.S.

Nearly 40% of the nation’s working parents, rich and poor alike, are so dissatisfied with child care that the situation has become a “national crisis,” according to a poll released Tuesday by Louis Harris & Associates.

The survey results--telecast by satellite from New York to five cities around the country, including Los Angeles and Mission Viejo, also revealed that single and black parents are paying more for child care than white married couples.

The poll showed broad national backing for federal support of day-care programs.

“This is an area where people wake up every day, 19% of the population, and say, ‘What will I do with my kid today?’ ” Harris said during the telecast.

Tax Credits

If there is no action soon from Congress enacting new tax credits for child care, “I tell you all hell will break loose,” Harris said.

“I’d say it’s reached crisis proportions,” he declared.

Harris’ firm from Dec. 22 to Feb. 8 questioned 4,050 adults on national policies toward child care and also asked a sample of those, 2,009 adults with a child under the age of 6, to describe their experience with child care.

The survey showed that although 53% of those surveyed thought the child-care system was working “somewhat well,” 38% said it was working “not very well” or “not well at all.”

The report said the negative numbers indicate that parents are putting up with a “just tolerable” situation.

In comments on his survey during the telecast, Harris described those surveyed as having “a deep, deep unease over the plight of children generally” and said they worry that “most children in the United States today are short-changed.”

Survey respondents believed that the overall quality of life for children has deteriorated. Sixty-three percent said children are “objects of neglect,” and 65% said children were worse off today than when they were growing up. Only “the poor” and “the elderly” were ranked more neglected than children.

But at the same time, the poll showed that 47% of those surveyed believed that most children had loving parents, 44% believed that they received medical treatment when needed and 42% believed the statement that most children “are basically happy.”

The survey also looked at typical costs of child care, reporting the mean cost for all those surveyed as $190 a month or $2,280 a year.

But Harris discovered an irony: “Many of those who can least afford to pay, in fact, are paying almost as much as the very wealthiest families do for child care.”

Single mothers pay $211 a month and black parents pay $258, but business executives pay $244, professionals pay $226 and married couples pay only $185, according to the survey.

Explaining the disparity, the survey noted: “Parents pay what they have to in order to get proper care--if they can find it. . . . However, even when parents pay high sums for child care, there is no guarantee they will receive high quality or real value for their money.”

Added Harris, when asked to explain why blacks were among those groups paying top dollar for child care, “It’s very difficult for them to find child care, and they’ve got to pay through the nose. It’s an old, old story in this country--you gotta pay more to be poor.”

Strong Ideas

Parents of all income levels had strong ideas of what they wanted in a day care center. Ninety-seven percent cited as a key concern “the quality of people running the center.” But in answer to a national policy question, Harris noted that nine in 10 of those surveyed agreed that better day-care workers must be attracted “by higher pay, not paid the level of a parking attendant, as today.”

The survey also asked all its respondents to consider President Bush’s child-care program--a tax credit of up to $1,000 a year for low-income parents--as well as the Democratic alternative of providing funds to low- and middle-income parents for child care and setting uniform federal standards for providers. According to the Harris survey, those polled favored both proposals.

The poll was commissioned by Philip Morris Cos. of New York.