Parents and The High Cost of Child Care

Cat Anderson a reporter from WTHR Channel 13 (NBC) was in our office today talking to our staff about the high cost of child care.  The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), of which our Child Care Answers program is a member, issued a 2010 update for their report Parents and the High Cost of Child Care.  You can read the full report by clicking on the link.

What caught WTHR’s attention was that the agency report listed Indiana in the top ten states for least affordable center-based infant care. Anderson interviewed Day Nursery Executive Director Carolyn Dederer and Child Care Answers Program Director Mindy Bennett.  The story is scheduled to run in the 5:00 pm news tonight.

Day Nursery Executive Director Carolyn Dederer talks to WTHR reporter Cat Anderson about the high cost of child care in our state.

Grandparents know the value of high-quality child care

Today’s blog post comes to you courtesy of NACCRRA, the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies. Grandparents’ Day is today. Grandparents know how important child care is – both for children and their early childhood development and for parents, who need a safe place where their children can learn while they work or attend school.

The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) conducted a nationwide poll of grandparents to find out their views on child care. Grandparents feel even more strongly than parents that public policy should support high-quality child care.

More than 9 in 10 grandparents (94 percent) support requiring training for child care providers including classes in child development, first aid and CPR, and in recognizing signs of child abuse.  Grandparents also overwhelmingly support requiring inspections of child care programs (94 percent), setting basic standards of quality (91 percent), improving health and safety in child care programs (91 percent), and requiring all types of child care programs to meet basic standards of quality (87 percent).

In honor of Grandparents’ Day, it’s time to join grandparents in urging Congress to strengthen child care policy. Children in child care should be safe and in a setting that promotes their healthy development.  Urge your Members of Congress today to reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the federal law that allocates funds to the states for child care.  

CCDBG reauthorization is long overdue.  The law has not been reviewed in 14 years.  On this occasion of Grandparents’ Day, remind Congress that we want our children in child care settings that are safe and promote their healthy development! 

Visit NACCRRA’s action center to send a letter to your Members of Congress and then forward the link to every grandparent and parent you know!

Urge Congress to reauthorize funds for child care

Today, more than 11 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care setting every week while their parents work.  On average, children of working mothers spend 36 hours every week in child care. 

A recent parent survey conducted by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) found that more than 50 percent of families with children under the age of 5 said the economy has impacted their child care decisions.  Parents need to know that their children are in safe, high-quality care settings to ensure that they get the strong start they need to succeed in school and in life. 

　

Parents’ Day is Sunday (July 25). It’s a great time to ask Members of Congress to honor parents everywhere by reauthorizing the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the federal law that allocates funds to the states for child care.

 

With the President’s FY 2011 Budget proposing a $1.6 billion increase in child care – the largest one-year increase ever – Congress has a tremendous opportunity to reauthorize and strengthen CCDBG to improve the quality of care for all children.

 

Sending a letter to your Senators and Representative is easy. Click here for a sample letter – either revise it to include your own words or personal story or send it as it’s currently written.

 

On this occasion of Parents’ Day, let’s remind Congress that we want our children in child care settings that are safe and promote their healthy development!

 

Parent Essentials for Your New Baby program needs your support

The Child Care Aware Parent Network is the National Association for Child Care Resource and Referral Association’s (NACCRRA’s) initiative to help support parents. Day Nursery’s Child Care Answers program is the local NACCRRA affiliate for the Indianapolis area.

To further that mission, NACCRRA is in the running to win a grant from Pepsi to create an online training for parents that will prepare them for their baby’s first three months. You can help them win the grant by casting your vote for NACCRRA’s “Parent Essentials for Your New Baby” Training. Through its Pepsi Refresh Project, Pepsi is giving away millions of dollars in grants each month to fund great ideas like NACCRRA’s “Parent Essentials for Your New Baby” Training. The public’s votes will decide which ideas get funded – which is why they need your help.  You are encouraged to visit the website sign up as a voter, and vote for NACCRRA’s “Parent Essentials for Your New Baby” Training. You can vote once every day for this idea until February 28, 2010. At that time, the voting will close, and Pepsi will tally up the votes to determine which ideas get funded. Help  provide new parents with the tools they need to get their infants off to a safe and healthy start.

Day Nursery’s Mrs. Bennett goes to Washington

Mindy Bennett, who is the Program Director for Day Nursery’s community outreach program Child Care Answers is in Washington DC for the next two weeks.  She just sent me an email asking for your help.  Mindy says…I will be going to see Representatives Burton and Carson next week as well as Senator Lugar. If you have a story about child care and your family that you would like for me to share email it to me at mindyb@childcareanswers.com.

In addition to seeing her in a professional setting every day, I have known Mindy since she was my son’s Kindergarten teacher at the Day Nursery Federal Center.  He’s in college now so we’ve been friends for a long time.   We were very proud of her when she was selected to be a part of an exclusive group of interns at the National Association for Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) this year.

I promise that if you email her, she will deliver  your message with the same passion that you would have done if you could be there in person. Mindy really cares about early childhood education in Indiana. Click here if you would like to follow Mindy’s trip to Washington on the Child Care Answers blog.

Your comments can help shape work-life balance for American families

The National Association for Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) is partnering with Care.com on an important research project on caregiving in America. Care.com has crafted a survey to gauge the challenges families face when trying to find quality care. The results will be used to help President Obama’s White House Task Force on Working Families reach its goals of improving care giving and work-life balance for families across the country. Your participation will help improve care. By taking part in this study, you’ll provide invaluable feedback that can help shape the future of care in America. You may access the survey by clicking on this link. Your responses to the survey will remain completely CONFIDENTIAL. No results will be reported in a way that will identify you. Thank you in advance for your time and input on this important initiative. NACCRRA and the Care.com Team

Indiana loses ground on state child care rankings

The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA)  recently updated their We CAN Do Better, Ranking of State Child Care Center Regulation and Oversight report.  The average score for states was 83 out of 150 points—the equivalent of an F. Indiana scored 89 and ranked 21.  When the report was released two years ago, Indiana was ranked 18.

The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, is our nation’s leading voice for child care.  They work with more than 700 state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies nationwide. These agencies help ensure that families in 99 percent of all populated ZIP codes in the United States have access to high-quality, affordable child care. 

Day Nursery’s Child Care Answers program is a NACCRRA member and assists parents and child care providers in Marion, Hamilton, Hendricks and Johnson counties.

Working moms want safe child care

NACCRRA, the National Association for Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies  has posted a new Safe Child Care Campaign in their Take Action Center. The concept is simple:  “Working Moms Want Safe Child Care” and is designed to send a letter to First Lady Michelle Obama and your Congressional Delegation urging action to strengthen the Child Care and Development Block Grant this year!  In honor of Mother’s Day, let’s remind policymakers that we want every parent to have access to child care settings that are safe and promote the healthy development of children!  http://highqualitychildcare.org/campaign/MothersDayCCDBG

Parent voices heard on Capitol Hill

Representatives of the Indiana delegation, including our own Mindy Bennett (second from left) met with Congressman Burton to ensure that our policymakers heard directly from parents.

The March issue of Parent Central Express presents a well summarized account of our own Mindy Bennett’s business trip to Washington.  Mindy is the Program Director for Child Care Answers, the community outreach arm of Day Nursery.   Today, over 11 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care arrangement every week while their parents work. On average, children of working mothers spend 36 hours every week in child care. Studies repeatedly have shown that high-quality child care – care that provides a loving, safe, stable and age-appropriate stimulating environment – helps children enter school ready to learn. Yet, less than 10 percent of the nation’s child care is of high-quality.

Unfortunately, not all of our policymakers know the facts about child care. Each year, members of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) come to Washington, D.C. to NACCRRA’s Public Policy Symposium. Representatives from state and local CCR&R agencies (Child Care Answers is part of the Indiana Association for Child Care Resource & Referral Association) from throughout the nation join together to raise the visibility of child care issues, such as the lack of quality in child care, and to advocate for improved conditions. Last year,  members heard from Members of Congress that the need for high-quality child care was not a priority for them because they did not hear directly from parents on the issue. NACCRRA made it a priority to change that by bringing parents to the very next Symposium.

This year, NACCRRA introduced the parents program to ensure that policymakers heard directly from parents. Forty-four parents and grandparents from 39 states were chosen to attend the conference, which was held March 10-14, had the opportunity to meet with their representatives on Capitol Hill (that’s Indiana parent representative Natalie Wolfe on the right in the picture with Congressman Burton). The feedback from the parents and grandparents after their visits was overwhelmingly positive. One grandparent shared that she had no idea how much power she had as one American citizen to make positive changes for children.

Raise your hand to be counted for quality child care

Raise your hand to be counted for quality child care!

If you share in the belief that high quality early learning experiences help children arrive at school eager and ready to learn, the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) wants you to be a part of their new Child Care Aware Parent Network. NACCRRA believes it is time for all families have access to affordable child care that is safe and educationally and developmentally sound. The goal of the network is to build a groundswell in support of children by enrolling parents across the country to become members of NACCRRA’s new Child Care Aware Parent Network (CCAPN). It’s FREE and open to anyone with an interest in children and child care. CCAPN will be an active, vital, virtual organization of parents, grandparents, child care providers, advocates for children, and anyone who cares about equal access to affordable, safe, and high quality child care. The Parent Network will provide parent involvement and engagement resources, training, direct virtual contact with policy makers, social networking, and other great benefits— all at no charge! If you would like to be notified when the Child Care Aware Parent Network is officially launched, visit their site at: www.CCAParentNetwork.org