If society has a stake in the well-being of children, and shares
responsibility for it, who are we talking about? Parent? Family?
Neighborhood? Caregiver? Employer? Community? Government — Local,
State, or Federal? And what responsibilities are we talking about?
Here are some policy strategies for each sector. Parents have the
primary responsibility; the others help them meet it.
| Who |
Parent |
Employer |
Community |
Government |
| Where |
Family |
Workplace |
Caregiver, R&R, Etc. |
Local, State, Federal |
| Basic Aims |
To nurture the well-being, development, survival,
and contributions of its members. Make the value decisions
about employment and choice of child care. |
To develop and sustain an economically strong
organization and productive work force; produce quality goods
and services, and contribute to the well-being of society. |
To develop resources and an environment supportive
of family life, economic activity, and community well-being;
provide child care of quality. |
To preserve the health, welfare, and safety
of the population; mitigate hazards of unemployment and disability
with safety-net programs; invest in public infrastructure;
promulgate and enforce rules of fair competition, full factual
information, and environmental protection to make free markets
work successfully; and generally protect the public interest,
essential freedoms, and equality of opportunity. |
Unique
Contri-
bution |
Parental choice |
Sustainable work force |
Sharing the caring |
The missing resources |
| |
Parent |
Employer |
Community |
Government |
| Quality |
 Individualize
child’s needs
Think
through values and standards
Observe,
learn, and demand factual information about caregivers
Visit
and talk·
Be
willing to pay more for quality
Postpone
and reduce use of child care
Don’t
disregard the merits of informal care arrangements |
Promote
employee choice
Allow
employed parents flexibility to deal with child care
Support
initiatives to promote quality of care |
R&R
give supportive consultation to parents and care providers
R&R
provide factual information on group size, child-to-adult
ratio, education & training, and accreditation of care
providers
Support & respite
for caregivers
Standard-setting
groups be active
Education
for caregivers |
Regulate
group size and other potential threats to quality
Finance
R&R's to collect and give parents comparative information
about care providers based on objective quality indicators
Grants
for education of caregivers and parent-support consultants
Increase
support for child care assistance, parent support, and
quality improvement in all types of child care
Assure
financial strength of families to make parent choice of
quality more affordable (see Affordability) |
| |
Parent |
Employer |
Community |
Government |
Afford-
ability |
Be
willing to pay for cost of care
Use
the tax credit and other available subsidies
Make
good use of family members
Simplify
life |
Pay
adequately in wages and benefits
Subsidize
care for employees with low family incomes
Subsidize
time-off for sick child and emergency care
Lobby
in behalf of lower income taxes on families
Create
pre-tax dependent-care flexible spending accounts |
Generate
political support for sharing the cost of child care, services,
programs, and policies that contribute to the family values
and child outcomes in which all have a stake |
From
tax policy to direct subsidies, recognize that parents, families,
caregivers, neighborhoods, local communities, and states
cannot meet the need without Federal participation
Strengthen
families by enacting a much expanded dependent-care tax
credit for all families with children or other dependent
care, universally neutral on employment or use of child
care means-tested and reimbursable for low income.
For
those required to work, extend and expand reimbursable
earned income tax credit and child care assistance.
Address
other unaffordables, e.g., health care
Fund
and support neighborhood programs for low-income families
(Head Start, etc.) |
| |
Parent |
Employer |
Community |
Government |
Availa-
bility
&
Accessi-
bility
|
Share
responsibility for child care in the family
Know
your neighborhood
Know
your values
Know
your child's needs
Use
your networks and the R&R
Compare
Or
take parental leave |
Purchase
or support enhanced R&R services
Develop
in-house network communicating with R&R services
Don’t
support one single type of child care
Avoid
crazy work schedules that make hash of child care arrangements
Create
short-day work options
Provide
parental leave |
Underwrite
a community-wide R&R serving all neighborhoods
Recruit
and support a demand-responsive supply of caregivers for
the ages, hours, and types of care needed, and inclusive
of children who have special needs
Extend
school day
Create
safe neighborhoods |
Adequate
R&R funding with local, State, and Federal participation
Fund
initiatives to create safe, supportive neighborhoods
Subsidize
centers in low-income neighborhoods that can't support
them
Eliminate
restrictive zoning
Fund
parent-support services unbiased regarding parent choice
of type of care |
| |
Parent |
Employer |
Community |
Government |
Flexi-
bility |
Work
out the division of labor and shared responsibility within
the family
Negotiate
working conditions, hours, schedule, and flexibility
Find
an accommodating caregiver
Have
a ready back-up for emergencies
Think
hard about distances, scheduling, convenience, practicalities,
and sharing responsibility, because the flexibility you
have been able to hang on to or muster is the key to making
a better choice in child care! |
Restructure
work
Create
policies permitting flexibility and time loss for family
and personal emergencies
Create
options for part-time employment
Don't
force overtime
Allow
flexible use of comp-time, while respecting wage and hour
laws
Don't
suck up all the flexibility employed parents need by holding
meetings early or late in the day or at lunch time
Facilitate
family leave and career breaks |
Care
providers and services on which parents depend try to be
accommodating and flexible in schedules
R&R's
assemble information on unfilled parent demand for child
care
Make
neighborhoods safe
Community
and business planners try to reduce likely distances between
homes, work, and care |
Careful,
nonpartisan rethinking of legislation on working conditions
as they affect employees with dependent-care responsibilities,
so they gain flexibility without losing any more rights
Legislation
recognizing benefits to accompany part-time employment |
