Last week, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that licensed family child care providers will receive $3,260 to help the industry, Meanwhile state House leaders proposed a plan in April to devote $40 million to raise child care salaries. These are just a few measures aimed at supporting an industry in crisis, faced with low wages and a lack of staffing.
Amy O’Leary, executive director of the policy and advocacy group Strategies for Children, joined Boston Public Radio to discuss the challenges with child care and how they can be addressed.
The pandemic exposed long-existing child care gaps in the U.S., with schools turning remote and many people working from home. In April, GBH reported that the Massachusetts economy loses an estimated $2.7 billion annually because families cannot access child care.
As a result, O’Leary said, she has seen the pandemic lead to increased flexibility from the government and greater attention towards solving child care problems.
“Parents were more willing to talk to their employers about what was happening in reality in their homes,” O’Leary said. “So many of our policies that are very rigid and have a lot of hoops to jump through for families suddenly were relaxed because the connection between early education and care programs and our economy was so clear. We saw policy change pretty dramatically, and I think that has set the stage for what we think about for the future.”
Still, O’Leary wants to see systemic change, rather than sporadic bursts of pandemic-driven funding.
“We know even parents who are paying privately are not paying the full cost, because it's been subsidized by the early education and care professionals who are doing that work,” O’Leary said. “We can't one-time fund our way out of this decades-long crisis. We really have to think about sustainable, strategic funding and policies to get us back to where we need to be.”
Part of the problem comes from the necessary low ratio of caretakers to children; more caretakers must be present for a large group of infants than for elementary-aged children to keep babies safe. Plus, many families need day care options for longer hours than for school-aged kids, who can attend extracurriculars or look after themselves until parents return from work. This makes prices high, but salaries low.
“We have not moved the needle there [on wages],” she said. “If you look overall at just the funding streams, the cost that the state has been able to reimburse has always been lower than the costs it costs to provide.”
For families struggling, O’Leary suggested parents reach out to her group, Strategies for Children, and to call local, state and federal officials.
“We know that families across the spectrum need help and support. I don't know many young families who can afford $21,000 for their baby to go to child care,” she said. “We really want to think about, ‘What would it look like for each community to try to be the most family-friendly community in the commonwealth?’”
