Today, the Senate voted to pass the American Rescue Plan, a sweeping pandemic relief package with $39 billion in child care relief funding, including $15 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program and $24 billion for a child care stabilization fund. The House previously passed the legislation at the end of February, but will vote again next week after amendments were made by the Senate. Once the bill passes the House, President Biden is expected to sign it into law. 

In addition to the $39 billion in dedicated relief for child care, the package passed by the Senate today includes $1 billion for Head Start programs and other measures directed at families with young children. See an overview of the elements included to support families with young children and the early learning programs they rely on here.

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have included dedicated relief for child care in every COVID relief proposal since the beginning of the pandemic. Last fall, the House passed a bipartisan relief package with $50 billion for child care, and the Senate Republicans released a number of proposals with $15 billion for child care, leading Congress to ultimately pass legislation with $10 billion in December to keep child care providers afloat for roughly three months. 

Meanwhile, the child care industry has lost roughly 171,000 jobs between February 2020 and December 2020 that have not been recovered, and surveys show that one in four child care centers and one in three family child care homes believe they will have to close permanently if no additional support comes forward. 46% of parents say their current child care situation isn’t sustainable in the long-term. 

Without Federal Support, Child Care Providers and Families Struggle to Hang On, Hindering our Nation’s Economic Recovery

Child care is an essential pillar of the American economy, yet COVID-19 has pushed an already-struggling industry to the brink of collapse. In the face of increasing costs and decreasing revenue, child care providers are struggling to hang on and need federal support. The federal relief funding delivered by Congress in December will supply some much needed short-term assistance to families and providers for roughly the next three months, but we know the dire effects of the pandemic will be felt for months to come, and therefore, the recent relief funding won’t meet the full and immediate needs facing our child care industry.

As the Chamber of Commerce recently stated, “[w]ithout this industry’s survival and ability to safely care for the children of working parents, every other American industry will struggle to return to work.” Additional federal investments in the child care industry will ensure that child care providers can remain open – or reopen in order to serve the children and families that depend on them to be able to go to work, particularly working mothers who have been the hardest hit by the lack of child care options. Any efforts to stimulate America’s economic recovery and return parents to work will fail if any portion of the child care industry collapses.

Providers Continue to Face Uncertainty:

Providers are contending with stark financial realities including increased costs to implement new health and safety protocols and decreased revenue due to limited capacity to ensure appropriate social distancing recommendations. These factors are forcing child care providers to make tough choices about whether they can reopen, or remain open.

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the child care industry lost roughly 171,000 jobs between February 2020 and December 2020 which still have not been recovered.
• A December survey of providers from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) showcased that they are facing an unsustainable reality without significant public investment:
• 56% of child care centers are losing money each day they remain open.
• One-in-four centers and one-in-three child care homes say that if enrollment stays where it is and no additional support comes forward, they will have to close in the next three months. That rises to 51% of minority-owned businesses who won’t survive more than three months at the current status quo.
• 42% of respondents reported taking on debt for their programs by putting supplies or other items on their own personal credit cards.
• 81% of respondents from programs that are open are still serving fewer children than prior to the pandemic, with an average decline of nearly one-third.
• On average, attendance is down to only 68% of enrolled students.
• Additionally, the pandemic is causing tremendous increases in operating costs. A recent report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) found child care providers Child care providers have, on average, faced a 47% increase in operating costs during the pandemic, with home-based family child care providers facing a 70% increase.

Families, Especially Working Mothers, Are Struggling to Access the Care they Need to Work:

While some providers have been able to remain open, they are often operating at reduced capacity due to new health and safety guidelines. This has resulted in limited access to care, meaning parents are struggling to find the care they need to be able to go to work, disproportionately affecting working mothers.

• A December parent survey from the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) explored howparents’child care preferences have shifted throughout the pandemic and whether parents have been able to access their preferred child care arrangement.

• 86% of parents report that their child care programs are closed or are operating at reduced capacity, with 11% reporting their programs had permanently closed.
• Two thirds of parents say the maximum amount their household can afford for child care each week per child is less than $200—well below the cost of quality child care in many states, especially infant care.
• A U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation survey found that 50% of parents who have not yet returned to the workforce cite childcare as a reason, demonstrating that many working parents continue to experience similar, and sometimes even increasing, difficulties in balancing both work and their families’ childcare needs.
• Working mothers have been disproportionately affected by the lack of access to child care. BPC, in an October survey, found that 42% of women with children under 2 years old left work during the coronavirus pandemic and that women are twice as likely as men to say they left the workforce for caregiving responsibilities due to childcare provider or school closures
• Another survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that 11% of parents reported declining a new opportunity, such as a promotion or a new job, to provide childcare in the last three months, with women being twice as likely to have declined a job opportunity and over four times as likely to have quit the workforce entirely than men.
• If providers close, there would be long-term consequences for families trying to balance work and care for children. What’s more, research from CAP suggests that closures will disproportionately impact low- and middle-income families as well as Black and Latinx families.
• Polling conducted in September by the First Five Years Fund (FFYF) shows that 46% of parents say their current child care situation is only a short-term solution or is not working well right now. Furthermore, voters see child care as essential.
• 79% of all voters say the COVID crisis has shown how essential it is that we build an accessible, affordable child care system for those who need it.
• 67% of voters see child care is essential or very important to get the economy going again.
• 53% of voters continue to believe that federal funding for quality early education should be increased.

Employers Are Seeing The Impact Of The Lack Child Care On Working Parents:

Parents are trying to balance multiple roles, many with limited to no access to formal child care or family, friends, or neighbors to help, making the availability of child care vital to our economic recovery.

• A survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation highlights how employers are helping working parents return to work, thinking about childcare assistance, benefits, and accommodations.
• 32% of employers have seen some of their employees leave the workforce due to the effects of COVID-19, and half of those cited child care concerns as the factor contributing to employees leaving the workforce.
• Another U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation release revealed employers’ concerns about a lack of child care:
• 40% of employers are concerned that some employees will not fully return to work.
• 40% of employers have offered additional child care assistance, benefits, or accommodations because of the pandemic.

To view state-specific data, visit click here.

WASHINGTON – Moments ago, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate released the final details of an end-of-year pandemic relief package, which includes $10 billion in funding to stabilize the child care industry. 

Shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a coalition of the country’s leading child care, business, and child advocacy organizations came together to launch Child Care Relief—a campaign to ensure federal lawmakers prioritize and address the needs of child care providers and families in COVID-19 economic relief efforts – and beyond. 

There has been universal agreement among lawmakers and voters alike that child care providers need relief, with emergency funding for child care included in every economic recovery proposal out of the House, Senate, and White House since Congress passed the CARES Act in March. Since then, lawmakers have failed to reach a deal on subsequent relief efforts until today. According to a national poll conducted in July, more than 8 in 10 voters favor a federal child care stabilization fund in the COVID-19 recovery package, with overwhelming support across partisan lines, generations, and genders. 

COVID-19 has created an acute child care crisis for American families, providers, and businesses, but the pandemic is not fully to blame. In recent decades, the exponential increase in demand for quality child care has far outpaced the growth in supply, creating a significant financial burden for families who rely on care out of economic necessity. At the same time, child care is an expensive, specialized service to deliver, and providers must strike a hard balance of earning a profit while keeping care affordable for the families they serve. The average cost of center-based child care in America is close to $10,000 per year – more than in-state college tuition in a majority of states. This pandemic has only exacerbated the realities of a child care system that was struggling financially.

Without question, however, the pandemic has pushed the child care industry to the brink of collapse, creating a dire situation for child care providers, working families, and our overall economic recovery:

• Child care providers are facing a 47 percent increase in operating costs due to the pandemic while enrollment is down an average of 67 percent compared to pre-COVID levels.
• 70 percent of parents report that their child care programs are closed or are operating at reduced capacity, and 44 percent of parents found that the lack of child care resources was a barrier to remote or in-person work.
• About one in five working-age adults said the reason they can’t work is the disruption to their child care arrangements created by the pandemic. Among those not working, women ages 25 to 44 are almost three times as likely as men not to be working due to child care demands.
• 76 percent of mothers with children under age 10 say child care has been among their top three challenges during the pandemic.

A new national survey of more than 6,000 child care providers conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) found that many of them will not be able to remain open without significant public investment. NAEYC found that 44% of providers are confronting so much uncertainty that they are unable to say how much longer they will be able to stay open.

Child care providers have been struggling to make ends meet due to the fallout from the pandemic.The survey found that one-in-four centers and one-in-three child care homes will have to close in the next three months if enrollment remains at current levels, a figure which rises to 51% for minority-owned businesses. Meanwhile, operating costs have skyrocketed, with 91% of providers having to pay more for cleaning supplies and 60% paying additional costs for staff/personnel. 

As a result, providers have had to resort to desperate measures to stay open, with 42% taking on debt for their programs by putting supplies or other items on their own personal credit cards and 39% dipping into their own savings accounts to try to meet families’ childcare needs. 

However, this survey draws from the experience of the childcare providers who have been fortunate enough to stay open. Thousands of providers have already gone out of business, making the magnitude of the childcare crisis much greater and complicating our economic recovery. Access to quality, affordable child care is key to working parents and our economic recovery from COVID-19, which is why Congress needs to include dedicated child care relief in the next stimulus package. 

The full release is available here. 

Building on previous research, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation recently released new data outlining the pandemic’s continued pressure on working parents and employers. 

The survey, conducted in September and October, found that child care remains a challenge for working parents — and also impacts employers. In an earlier summer survey, 24% of employers reported they were concerned that employees may need to leave the workforce because of the pandemic. In the Foundation’s recent survey, 32% of employers have seen some of their employees leave the workforce due to the effects of COVID-19.

And while employees, especially mothers, may be leaving the workforce, parents remaining in the workforce are also debating working fewer hours. This attrition is especially pronounced in certain sectors of the economy including education and health care. In health care, more than three-quarters of employers reporting employee departures cite child care concerns as a contributing factor. 

The vast majority, 89%, of employers feel aware of the child care needs of their employees. Employers reported supporting working parents in numerous ways, most commonly by providing flexible working hours and remote work as additional child care benefits. 28% of employers also reported offering paid leave as another support. 

The Foundation’s survey found that many employers were willing to increase their investment in child care to meet the needs of their workforce, but were unsure of how to support working parents or were unsure they would be able to afford additional assistance. 49% of employers would be likely to provide additional child care assistance if the government offered supplementary incentives. 

As the country considers our long-term economic recovery, child care remains essential. You can view the complete report here. 

The “compromise” pandemic relief legislation under consideration in Congress includes only $10 billion in funding for child care — considerably less than any previous measure from Democrats or Republicans. If lawmakers are going to reach a deal on COVID-19 relief, it’s going to happen in the next few days. 

Here’s where things currently stand on child care: 

• Senate proposal: $15 billion
• House proposal: $50 billion
• New “compromise” proposal: $10 billion

Now is not the time to short-change America’s child care providers, who desperately need relief if they are to remain in business amid this economic crisis. Our economic recovery cannot succeed if millions of working parents are unable to work, due to child care challenges.

Tweet or email your lawmakers and tell them the Senate’s $15 billion child care relief proposal is the LOWEST they should consider.

“When the pandemic hit, it was largely mothers who took on the additional child care duties; became remote teachers; and, in large numbers, quit their jobs,” writes Claire Cain Miller in her recent article in The New York Times.

Mothers have always been filling when unexpected family needs arise, reads the article, but the pandemic has exacerbated the difference. Research suggests that mothers are more likely than fathers to reduce in-person time at work when work and family obligations collide pre-pandemic. In opposite-sex couples, wives are more likely to quit their jobs when their husbands worked long hours; whereas when women worked long hours, their male spouses didn’t quit.

And now, as seven in 10 mothers are shouldering the bulk of child care during the pandemic, women’s participation in the workforce has taken a hit. Some 1.6 million fewer mothers are participating in the labor force this fall, and more have passed on promotions, reduced working hours, or are still struggling to strike a balance between caring for their children and tending to their careers.

The lack of social safety nets for child care, therefore, is as much an economic problem as it is a gender or family issue. “Part of the reason is that the United States has fewer family-friendly policies and benefits than other rich countries — a pattern that has continued during the pandemic,” the article concludes. Making sure that working mothers can access and afford child care would be the first step in fixing this problem.

Read the full article here.