Day-Care Subsidy Seen as Elemental

The article, “Nanny Search: Parents Face Troubling Choices” (Jan. 13), pointed out the difficulties inherent in selecting a nanny. The most satisfactory choices appear to be college-trained nannies whose salaries make them an unavailable option for most working-class parents and especially a single parent who has the most pressing need for one.

The only viable option for most people is a day-care center. Good day-care centers provide early childhood education, socialization skills and a healthy, happy environment. But to have that type of day care, it is necessary to have a well-trained, caring staff.

On Nov. 29, 1987, The Times published a letter I wrote addressing this same issue. I pointed out the virtual impossibility of hiring and keeping qualified, certificated personnel who are paid either minimum wage or a few dollars above, with no benefits. Since I wrote that article, nothing has significantly changed in the child-care field. Unless business and the state and/or federal government subsidize child care so that the care-giver can receive a fair salary, we are going to see more tragic headlines.

In 1987, I wrote: “We casually leave our most important resource at day-care centers and never consider the needs of the people who bear the responsibility for taking care of our children. In any plans for a viable child-care program, we must first begin with the care-givers. Otherwise, we will have just one more makeshift, stopgap program after another. Our children need and deserve more than this.”

I hope this same letter will not need to be written again.

ESTELLE WASLOSKY, Brea