August 16, 2010

Opinion: Families need help with high cost of child care

I am a parent of a child under 3 and I live in Seattle. In my PEPS (Program for Early Parent Support) group, all six were members of high-earning dual-income couples and each one of us struggled to find child care for our infants and to find it under $16,000 to $18,000 a year.

I thought, “We're in the highest tax bracket. We can afford it.” My mistake. I began looking in my fifth month of pregnancy. I ended up on eight different waiting lists, none of which opened up until my child was past the age of 2. I ended up arranging a nanny-share with another couple who had an infant at a cost of $24,000 per year. Yes, that's my HALF of the total childcare costs. It took seven months to find and the nanny care situation was a last minute thing. When she quit with two weeks notice, we scrambled and now have an au pair at a cost of about $18,000 a year.

I am writing about a recent report, “Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2010 Update.” It was released by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies. The report examines the cost of child care for infants and 4-year-olds in both child care centers and family child care homes in every state. For an infant, the average cost of center-based care ranges from $4,550 in Mississippi to $18,750 in Massachusetts. Infant care is so expensive that it actually costs more than college in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

The cost of child care is high any way you measure it: against income generally, against other household costs like mortgage, rent, food or utilities, and it is increasing. It is no wonder that families struggle to afford the cost of child care. And, that is for two-parent families. For single parents, the cost of care can consume up to 67 percent of income.

All families should have access to quality, affordable child care to ensure that their children are safe and in a setting that promotes healthy development. Unlike higher education that is underwritten by some public financing to make the cost of college more affordable for families, there is no systemic support for child care. It is time to look at the financing of child care as costs rise and an increasing number of families struggle with the costs, not just families with low incomes. For more information on the report, see http://www.naccrra.org under “publications.”

J Stitzel

Seattle

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