Blog #6: Cost of Child Care

There is a wide range of child care options for mother's currently. The same is not currently true for low-income working mothers. Within the home, there is child care in the form of father care - where the father takes responsibility for the children during the day and either doesn't work, or works at night. In formal care by a family member or non-related adult is also a widely used form of child care amongst low-income mothers. There is care by a paid nanny, and also by older siblings. There are day care centers in the caregivers home, or a family daycare group. Pre-K and Preschool programs are often available but very expensive. There is mother's care at work, which is not offered in most occupations. As a last resort, there is also child care in hospitals, shelters, etc.

These mothers often have to pick second best child care options for their children because of the cost and availability of these programs. These are usually not the best options for their children because they start and stop abruptly and are not ever in a routine with their child care. These relationships with caregivers often start out very informally with family members or family friends. They don't have access to the top child care facilities with the best educational programs because of the cost and working mothers are often paying more than they can afford just to put their children in a decent educational setting. They are also often limited by the rules around the subsidies that are offered to them. Often times, the child care offered with subsidies is not somewhere you would like your children to be for a majority of the day.

The stories from "Putting Children First" showed the instability of a child's life because of day care. They are put in a different situation every single week, moving from their older sister's apartment to a shelter for care, to their grandmother's house, etc. Subsidies to these families come and go and they are forced to adjust their child care based on these dynamics.