Have you ever wondered why childcare costs are so high? For parents dealing with this, it can often be a competition between paying for childcare or paying the utilities. There are even times when parents must sacrifice quality childcare over cost and that is just plain scary. The truth is, not all childcare providers are created equal despite licensing requirements. Of course the same can be said about physicians, restaurants or anything else you where you are paying for services.  The childcare providers themselves have to make a living and since they are self-employed this includes all the provided benefits that many of us take for granted by our employers coming out of their own pockets. Everything from liability insurances to furnishings, continuing education, field trips, educational materials and more are provided by these groups of people for the children under their charge. Whether a large center or an in-home provider, there is a lot that goes into being a childcare provider.
Since employers know that parents must pay people to watch their kids for them to go to work, some participate independent care programs allowing people to use pre-tax dollars to pay for these expenses. Now, what happens when the childcare costs are factored into a non-residential parent’s child support calculation is a different story unless the parents have worked out an arrangement for the non-custodial parent to use their own dependent care account and forgo working through the division of child support enforcement. When we look to our government for relief the amount of money a parent can claim for childcare expenses is so small it can feel insulting.
So what do we do? We must fight to change laws so that the burden is not just on the parents or the provider but also on the way we look at this in our economic system and legal policies. Childcare is a necessity, not a choice. Most people aren’t in a position to sit home during our children’s primary years until they are old enough to go to public school. And certainly, we’ve seen on the news over and over how some have left children alone or in cars because they did not have childcare options. The argument “then don’t have kids” just doesn’t make any sense because people don’t usually plan for it to be this way, but life simply happens sometimes. Now, lets put this into perspective. If public schools are free, why is childcare not free? Why is this not federally funded for all instead of just those who all below the poverty level?
Imagine the burden that would be relieved if parents were able to find quality childcare that was paid for without tax dollars. Imagine a workplace where workers went to work and were able to be more certain about being there because childcare was no longer a concern. There will certainly be critics who don’t believe this would be right or fair; but, what is the alternative. Increased sick time and absenteeism at work which impacts an employer’s bottom line. Or perhaps continuing the high cost of childcare calculations for both custodial and non-custodial parents who must work long hours to take care of the same children they are raising and miss out on time that is needed to raise them effectively. Personally, I remember calling in sick when I couldn’t take my kids to childcare because I was behind on a childcare bill and didn’t get paid until a Friday. Though that was not a frequent issue, it stands to reason that other’s do this as well.
Though there is no one size fits all solution for this, we must realize that the children are the ones who pay the ultimate price. My call to action is to find our what politicians think about childcare costs to parents in your area. Help people who have a hard time finding childcare figure out how to get care that is affordable and quality. We can do this together if we just learn to advocate for one another.
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Photo Credit: Pixabay Lori Heron
