Concerns about child care have reached a boiling point for parents and providers, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for families to afford essential items like health care and housing.
These are among the main findings described in a special anniversary report from the FAST survey project at the Stanford Center for Early Childhood, which highlights data from a survey that asked caregivers of young children what they want their policymakers to know about how they are doing and what they need. RAPID has received almost 30,000 responses.
The report is released with less than five months until the US presidential election, which RAPID leaders say has major implications for children and families.
It also comes nearly four years after Project RAPID launched in April 2020. Since then, more than 20,000 parents of children under age 6 and nearly 7,000 child care providers, across all 50 states, a variety of care settings kindergarten and English and Spanish schools. Spanish speakers: have responded to RAPID's monthly surveys. The findings provide intimate and continuous snapshots of the experiences and emotional states of the adults most present in young children's lives.
Parents and providers receive two different surveys, but their concerns are “remarkably similar,” says Cristi Carman, director of the Center's RAPID Survey.
Their answers can be summarized in a few ideas. “The essence of all of them,” Carman notes, “is that families need more economic stability.”
Child care is a major concern
Regardless of demographics, family structure, and income, parents are concerned about child care: affording it, accessing it, and ensuring it is safe and high quality. That's the biggest challenge they want their elected officials and other policymakers to know about.
“There is a serious child care crisis in our country,” wrote one parent in South Dakota. “We are making it difficult for families to live on one income, and families who need child care cannot find affordable child care.”
One Maryland parent said, “There are almost no options locally for child care for a baby under two years old. My husband and I have full-time jobs and hope to continue working, but this could force one of us to leave our jobs if we can't find child care.”
Child care providers, including early childhood teachers and center and home directors, are also very concerned about being able to meet parents' child care needs.
“Educated, experienced, and passionate teachers cannot stay in this field because they literally cannot afford it,” wrote one teacher at a center in Wyoming. “I have parents who drop out because they can't pay the tuition, and neither can the parents who are also teachers here.”
Many providers cited the need for the government to invest more money in the child care and education system, including one in Wisconsin who said, “As a home-based provider, I don't even take home minimum wage since my parents can't afford it.” the luxury of paying that amount.”
This concern has had slight ups and downs in recent years, but since last fall it has become more acute, according to survey data.
This is probably because many families were immediately and intensely impacted by the end of the $24 billion in child care stabilization grants which had bolstered early care and education providers after the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act. Those grants began to expire in September 2023, and as a result, many child care programs were forced to increase tuition prices for families.
“We know that parents don't have room to pay more for child care, and yet that's what they're being asked to do,” says Carman.
Economic instability has increased
Many families report that it has become more difficult to meet their basic needs, particularly in the areas of health care and housing.
If families are looking rent either buyHousing costs have risen so steeply in recent years that many consider their situation unsustainable.
At the same time, government programs that were implemented during the height of the pandemic — such as food assistance, stimulus checks and the expanded child tax credit — have disappeared, leaving some families worse off than before.
He Expanded child tax creditwhich was passed under the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021, temporarily provided payments of $3,600 to tens of millions of families with children under 6 years of age. It reduced child poverty in the U.S. by almost half, lowering the rate to about 5 percent.
With that program, “we really saw the most dramatic drop in difficulty levels,” says Phil Fisher, director of the Stanford Center for Early Childhood. Families used the money to cover housing costs, pay off student loans and cover basic expenses like utility bills and food, he adds. But once it ended, challenges like food insecurity skyrocketed.
“We can definitely detect (in the data) the way these large-scale economic policies are making a difference in these households,” Fisher says, “and the way they are affected when they disappear.”
Those ripples can have a significant impact on children and families. Economic instability leads to emotional stress among adults, Carman explains, and emotional distress can harm children.
“It influences external factors like our behavior and the way we feel during the day,” she says, “which can undermine that connection and care that we hope all caregivers can bring to their relationships with young children.”
A crisis of faith
In addition to these concerns and challenges, parents expressed skepticism that their elected leaders and other policymakers will push for changes that will significantly (and sustainably) improve conditions for children and families.
“We cannot depend on anyone but ourselves,” wrote one father in Mississippi.
The frequency with which parents have reported feeling frustrated by their leaders' inaction on issues related to children and families has increased over the years, RAPID surveys revealed.
“Everyone in charge only cares about themselves and getting richer,” one Florida father shared. “No one is ever going to help the rest of us. It is what it is.”
“Families are increasingly pessimistic about the ability of policymakers to act and create solutions that truly support their families,” Carman emphasizes. “That is at stake” in these elections.
