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Child Care

Quality, affordable child care

Families want and need access to quality, affordable child care that offers children a safe environment, nurturing relationships with caring adults, and positive early learning experiences. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed a fragile, underfunded child care system that falls short of what babies and families need to thrive and our economy needs to stay strong.  As child care rebuilds following the COVID-19 crisis, robust public funding is imperative for a system of high-quality programs and providers that is accessible to all families. Doing so will not only support our economic recovery, but will ensure our future workforce – today’s babies and toddlers – arrive at school ready to learn and prepared for future success.

Take Action

Tell Congress to #ThinkBabiesAndAct and support quality child care! 

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THE FACTS

Only 4.2% of families with low or moderate income have access to child care assistance through the Child Care and Development Fund.

THE FACTS

Every dollar invested in quality early learning programs that start at birth can deliver a 13% annual return on investment.

THE FACTS

61% of infants and toddlers have mothers in the labor force.

Legislation At-A-Glance

The Child Care for Working Families Act 

Introduced in the 116th Congress and expected to be reintroduced in 2021, this bill would ensure parents have quality child care available so they can continue working and their children can learn and thrive. Building on the existing Child Care and Development Block Grant, it would increase the number of children who could receive child care assistance by more than 13x the current amount, with particular attention to infant and toddler care. It would also provide training and compensation for child care workers to improve the quality of care for infants and toddlers. 

What it could mean for babies:

More families across the country would have access to high-quality, affordable child care. This would provide more babies and toddlers, including children with disabilities, with the developmental support they need to arrive at school ready to learn and prepared for future success. 

Advocacy Tools & Resources

Child Care Advocacy Toolkit: Use these tools to urge your policymakers to Think Babies and make quality, affordable child care a reality for all working families. 

America’s Future Depends on Quality Child Care: Learn about the state of quality child care for babies in America and the critical components needed to ensure success for young children and their futures. 

State of Babies Yearbook: 2020: Use national and state-by-state data on the well-being of infants and toddlers to call on federal and state policymakers to improve outcomes for babies and families. 

How COVID-19 is Impacting Child Care Providers: Stories from the Field: Read the first-person perspectives of child care providers and families on the ongoing child care emergency and amplify their voices in your advocacy efforts and conversations with policymakers. 

Supporting Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care Strategic Planning Tool Kit: This toolkit, developed by All our Kin in partnership with Think Babies, provides resources on how to elevate the important role of family child care in a mixed-delivery system for infants and toddlers.