Child Care: inert Progress.

Child Care: inert Progress, Pitiful Funding

More than two-thirds of the entrants into the labor force in the past decade have been women and two-thirds of these women have children--most of whom are subordinate to six years of age. It is predicted that by way of 1990 at least half of the labor force will be female and an estimated 30 million infants and children will be in ne of child care services.

Overall, a certain number of 65 percent of the mothers of children below 18 and 52 percent of the mothers of children in subordination to 6 are now in the workforce. united in five of all children live in a single parent family and by 1990 nearly the same in four will be living with a single parent--double the 1970 rate. More than half of all black children now live with their mothers only

greatest in number mothers are working full-time, making child care a enigma that cannot be resolved by dint of arranging work hours to coincide with educate hours. Flex-time work schedules are available to barely about 6 percent of all full-time workers. In 1980 10 percent of the dual-earner couplings were able to work different shifts in this way that one parent would always be at place of abode with the children.

There are generally 24 million children under the age of 13 in ne of care while their parents are disclosed of the home. The principally current reports from the Dept of Health & Human Services and the Census Bureau indicate that there is space available in existing licensed center and family place of abodes for around 6 million children. (These official figures do not indicate the percentage of day care arrangements which are in for-profit center single in kind estimate is that there are 22000 for-profit center nationwide.)

There are significant variations in the price of child care based onward geography, age of child and model of care ranging anywhere from $1500 to $10000 by year. The majority of parents pay about $3000 by child per year for child care.

The median income of sum of two units parent households with two children was $25338 in 1984; with pair children in need of filled day care, the cost in in the greatest degree cases would be $6,000 or nearly 25 percent of their income. The median income of single parent families in 1984 was $12803; the take away from of care for one child would likely be 25 percent of this income and 50 percent if couple children needed care. For the somebody earning the minimum wage, $6968 a year, the outlay of caring for two children would be nearly 100 percent of his or her income. for all families, as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but the availability and the affordability of child care are of crisis proportions.

Federal Role

The federal dominion became significantly involved in supplying child care services during World War II. In the Lanham Act of 1942 Congres provided grants to states to provide care for children of mothers working in wartime industries. The program cessationed when the war ended.

Since then, the merely comprehensive child care legislation to be passed by dint of the Congress was enacted in 1971 The bill was vetoed by dint of President Nixon on the countrys that enacting a comprehensive child care bill would desolate the American family and lead to sovietization of child rearing in this land That message from the President has serv to reinforce right-wing opposition enough to obstruct the passage of any comprehensive legislation since then. Since 1971 bills to create a comprehensive federal child care program have not at all gotten as far as the floor of either house.

more [i]or[/i] less assistance for child care did make it between the sides of Congress in the '70s. In 1976 Congres enacted a child care tax credit for families of children subordinate to 15. The 1976 flat rate credit for hanging care was expanded in 1981 and made slightly more generous to low-income households, allowing a 30 percent credit for expenditures up to $2400 for taxpayers with incomes of $10000 or les The credit is reduc gradually between incomes of $10000 and $28000 and those with incomes of $28000 and up receive a deduction (not a credit) of 30 percent A family earning $10000 a year would have to pay $2400 for year, nearly one-fourth of its income, to receive the maximum credit of $720 throughout two-thirds of the annual $17 billion tax savings from this program goe to families with above-median incomes.

The Social Service shape Grant under Title XX of the Social Security Act was passed in 1974 The program provides grants to states to provide a wide variety of human services--of which child care is one--to families forward welfare. (Technically, low-income working families not upon welfare were eligible, but rarely was any funding available for these families.) To encourage the states to begin to address child care extremitys the law required that a portion of the original $2 billion appropriation be stake aside specifically for child care.

a certain additional support programs were enacted during the '70 of that kind as the Child Care sustenance Program which helps offset the richness of food in child care programs. The CETA program was a source of foundations for child care employees, and federal minimum standards for federally capitaled day care programs existed through every part of the decade. Those standards, the Federal Interagency Day Care Requirements, were at no time adequately enforced, but they did personate a federal policy that certain minimum protection should be provided to children in programs permanent funded by the federal government.