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The mismatch between standard working hours and school hours leaves parents scrambling to fill the gaps in childcare: from the end of parental leave until the start of kindergarten, before and after school, and during summer break.
“Indeed, summer is one of the most difficult times for parents to find care for their children. Sign-ups can start as early as January, fees must often be paid in full up front, and many camps become full in minutes—a process which parents have referred to as ‘a nightmare’ that causes ‘sheer panic,’” economist Kathryn Anne Edwards writes in a new report, the first of several childcare reports Roosevelt is releasing in summer 2025.
Edwards proposes a comprehensive Child Development System to fill the gaps, not only between work and school hours but also between existing administrative systems at the federal, state, and local levels. This universal, public system would also close the gaps among individual children, whose access to quality care varies drastically according to their parents’ income.
“There is already some funding for childcare, but it is limited to serving only low-income populations and disbursed so stingily that only a fraction of even that subpopulation is helped. Some administrative architecture exists, but it is spread over multiple funding streams. There are some providers, but they are limited to serving only those who can afford care at a market-rate profit or struggle with meager reimbursement,” Edwards explains.
“To truly serve all children, all day, all year, we must simply put all of these pieces together and increase funding to meet the total need.”
Read the full report: “Whole Child, Whole Day, Whole Year: Assembling a Comprehensive Child Development System for America”
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