Cost of Child Care Puts Welfare Reform at Risk, Study Says

Child care for the working poor in California can cost up to 90% of a parent’s minimum-wage income and the system is unable to meet much of the state’s need--particularly for care of infants, according to a study released Wednesday.

The study, described as the first comprehensive look at the state’s child care system, offers a disturbing and challenging picture for state officials who consider this issue to be the backbone of a successful welfare reform plan.

Officials at the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, an advocacy group based in San Francisco, said they hope their report will encourage a larger commitment to child care than Gov. Pete Wilson recently proposed.

“These are shocking facts,” said Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), one of four Democratic legislators who attended a news conference to release the report. “It is an insurmountable impediment for women who seek to work.”

The study, based on a survey of 38,000 care providers and an analysis of 45,000 requests for care, offers a snapshot of the existing child care system and its shortcomings.

The study did not look ahead to calculate the additional cost or the requirements for expansion that will be necessary when new welfare reform laws force thousands of indigent parents into the work force.

Based on their experience, however, the child care advocates estimate that the current system is only meeting about one-third of the need for subsidized child care. They also expect that need will more than double in the next three years from about 240,000 children now to about 560,000.

Fran Kipnis, research director for the Child Care Resource and Referral Network, said the “most startling finding” of the study is the high cost of child care in California.

For a child under 2, the average cost of care was $135 per week, or about 68% of a minimum wage salary. For children between the ages of 2 and 5, the average cost was about $94 per week.

Los Angeles was just short of the average at $127 per week for a child under 2 and $89 per week for a child between 2 and 5. The highest costs were found in the San Francisco area where prices for an infant averaged $180 per week, or about 90% of a full-time minimum wage income.

The study also found that most child care centers do not care for children under 2 and do not operate at night or on weekends--the time when many entry-level jobs are scheduled.

The study said just 4% of the day care centers in California are licensed to serve infants under age 2.

Likewise, the study found just 2% of the state’s child care centers offer services during weekend, evening or overnight hours.

For welfare reform to work, day care centers will need to become accessible to more infants and the children of parents who work nontraditional hours, said state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles). “This is what we are going to have to do if we are going to put tens of thousands of parents into the work force and tens of thousands of their children in day care,” said Watson.

Carlene Davis, public policy associates for the facility, Crystal Stairs Inc., estimated that Los Angeles County’s waiting list for subsidized care is as high as 70,000 families.

The presence of Democratic legislators at the news conference demonstrated the partisan positioning that is taking shape around welfare reform.

The Democratic Assembly members assigned to a welfare reform conference committee complained that funding for child care in the governor’s proposed budget was inadequate and that some rules--such as a requirement that mothers obtain work within 12 weeks of giving birth--were inappropriate.

Lisa Kalustian, spokeswoman for the governor, later replied, “Working mothers go back to work within this time frame after their children are born, and we are treating mothers on welfare no differently. California recognizes the importance of providing adequate child care, and it is a vital part of welfare reform.”

Wilson’s proposed budget would increase state funding for child care services from $53.7 million to $79.5 million in the next fiscal year, Kalustian said. Meanwhile, federal funds for California child care are projected to increase $79 million for a total of about $300 million.