Panel Urges Better National Child Care

A National Research Council panel called today for billions more in government spending on child care, mandatory one-year leaves for parents of newborns and a program to establish strict national standards for day care centers.

“Every American child not only deserves quality care, the future vitality of our nation depends on it,” said John L. Palmer, chairman of the committee that produced the report.

Palmer, a professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, spoke at a news conference in which the 19-member committee presented its report, “Who Cares for America’s Children?”

The report said that by the year 2000 about three out of every four American children will have mothers in the work force and that even now the majority of American parents entrust care of their young children to others.

Palmer said that the committee found “substantial scientific evidence” that good quality child care can have serious effects on the future life of every child and the influence that child has in society.

The report said that by 1995 the amount spent annually for child care in the United States will reach $48 billion. But to provide “adequate care” for all children under age 13, it said total costs for parents and the government could rise eventually to about $126 billion.

The expert panel said studies show there is an important need for parents to establish strong relationships with their children in the early months of life. As a result, it said, the federal government “should mandate unpaid, job-protected leave for employed parents of infants up to one year of age.”

Among large companies, about 47% provide some form of paid maternity leave, but only 10% of the companies with fewer than 100 employees had such a policy, the report said.

Five states--California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island--and Puerto Rico include wage and position protection in pregnancy disability leave programs.

Other recommendations:

--The federal government and the states should increase subsidies to low-income families for quality child care programs. The added costs, either through tax incentives or grants, the report said, could be as high as $10 billion.

--Establish a uniform national standard for child care. This could include minimum safety and health standards, along with acceptable ranges for staff-to-child ratios, group size, care-giver qualifications and physical space in the facility.

--Expand Head Start and other preschool programs for children of poor families.

--Strengthen “the infrastructure of the child care system” by improving wages and training for care-givers, expanding voucher programs to give poor families more opportunities to choose centers and encouraging organization of family day care systems.